Bertrand Delanoë
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Bertrand Delanoë (born May 30, 1950) /bɛʁtʁɑ̃ dəlanoe/ (pronunciation ) is a French politician, and has been the mayor of Paris since 2001. He is from the French Socialist Party.
Delanoë was born in Tunis, Tunisia, and moved to France with his family in his teens. He is openly gay.
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[edit] Political career highlights
He has been involved in politics since the age of 23 as the secretary of the Socialist federation in Aveyron. He was first elected to the Paris city council in 1977. In 1993, he became the head of the city's Socialist Party. In 1995, he was elected to the French Senate, where he was secretary of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense.
[edit] Mayor of Paris
Delanoë has been mayor of Paris since March 18, 2001, when control of the city council was won by a leftist alliance for the first time since the 1871 Paris Commune. His predecessors were Jean Tiberi (1995-2001), and Jacques Chirac (1977-1995), who resigned after eighteen years as mayor when he was elected president of France.
Delanoë won the mayorship of Paris, at the head of a coalition of Socialists, Greens and Communists, over the conservative candidates Jean Tiberi and Philippe Séguin, who were unable to resolve their differences and thereby split the conservative vote. This success in a city which has traditionally been a stronghold of the right was made all the more striking by setbacks to the Left in the 2001 elections that occurred more generally—has been partially attributed with the weariness of the Parisian public with respect to various scandals of corruption and graft in the preceding administrations (see corruption scandals in the Paris region).
Since becoming mayor, his goals have been to improve the quality of life, reduce pollution, and cut down on vehicle traffic within the city (including a plan for a non-polluting tramway to ease Parisian traffic) and pedestrian malls. He is, however, criticized by a majority of Parisians for having increased traffic problems and congestion in the city, and by conservatives for having failed to deliver on his promises.
Delanoë was virtually unknown before the election of 2001; he has since then become a fairly popular mayor, organising new and unusual events in Paris, such as the "Paris Beach" (Paris Plage) on the banks of the River Seine every summer since 2002.
[edit] Assassination attempt
He was stabbed on October 5, 2002 during the Nuit Blanche, a night of festivities in Paris, while mingling with the public. His assailant, Azedine Berkane, was reported to have told police that "he hated politicians, the Socialist Party, and the homosexuals". Before being taken to hospital, Delanoë ordered that the festivities continue. Delanoë's wound was reported not to be life-threatening and he left the hospital after about two weeks.
[edit] Olympic bid
The failure to secure the 2012 Olympic Games for Paris on July 6, 2005 is his first major setback. In the aftermath of the defeat in his Olympic bid, he accused British prime minister Tony Blair of unduly influencing the result in order to secure the games in London. However, Bertrand Delanoë's popularity in fact rose during July 2005, and, at 65%, tops that of all other major French politicians.[1] It seems that the French public lays the blame of the failure on president Jacques Chirac, who said that "the only worse food than British food is Finnish" and "the only thing the British have done for Europe's agriculture is mad cow disease", which likely offended two Finnish members of the International Olympic Committee and led to Paris's narrow loss.
[edit] Homosexuality
Delanoë was one of the first major French politicians to announce that he was gay, during a 1998 television interview (before being elected mayor). His election as mayor made Paris the world's second largest city with an openly LGBT mayor, the largest being Berlin, Germany, whose mayor is Klaus Wowereit. The third largest is Hamburg, Germany, whose mayor is Ole von Beust. All three have taken office since 2001; the previous largest-city had been Winnipeg, Canada with mayor Glen Murray.
While not taking an active part in the gay and lesbian community, Delanoë wants to make a difference, especially in ending discrimination in municipal subsidies to civic groups. Political opponents argue though that such choices are just a new example of clientelism.
[edit] External links
- Paris and beaches (in French)
- The Mayor of Paris, from www.paris.fr
- BBC report on stabbing
- CityMayors.com profile
- Poll of Parisians on Delanoë, January 2006 (in French)
| Preceded by Jean Tiberi |
Mayor of Paris 2001– |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Delanoë, Bertrand |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | French politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 30, 1950 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tunis, Tunisia |
| DATE OF DEATH | living |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
