Municipal in Paris: Dati and Buzyn programs, what differences?

Three weeks before the first round, Rachida Dati, LR candidate for mayor of Paris and Agnès Buzyn, new head of the LREM list after the withdrawal of Benjamin Griveaux, unveiled their first elements of the program this Sunday, respectively in Le Parisien and Le Journal of Sunday.

If they display the same priorities - cleanliness and safety - a comparison of the different thematic measures defended highlights many similarities but also some differences. A quick overview.

Security: more video surveillance for Dati, pedestrian cameras for Buzyn

On safety, Rachida Dati and Agnès Buzyn make the same observation. Faced with rising incivility and insecurity in the capital, the two candidates both propose the creation of a municipal police equipped with lethal weapons.

But in the proposals presented this Sunday, Rachida Dati goes further by evoking a series of complementary measures: in addition to "3,400 agents in the field against 2,900 currently", the candidate LR wishes to multiply the video surveillance cameras, which she wants increase to 4,000 by the end of the mandate (compared to 1,360 today). It also wishes to set up a “direct telephone line” to connect residents with municipal police, and plans to create a “victim assistant” post in each arrondissement, to support victims in their procedures (file complaint, find a lawyer or a doctor…).

Rachida Dati wants to bring the number of field officers in charge of security to 3,400. LP / Aurélie Ladet

The LREM candidate, for her part, to show the importance she attaches to the subject, announces that she will delegate security and tranquility to her first assistant. She plans to equip "at least one policeman per patrol" with a pedestrian camera.

Cleanliness: new tools for Dati, street managers for Buzyn

This is the second top priority of the two candidates: on cleanliness, Agnès Buzyn and Rachida Dati both want to strengthen the powers of the district mayors. The first wants to entrust the total competence of cleanliness to the district mayors, the second wants them to take care of “part of the cleanliness, the roads”.

READ ALSO> Cleanliness, a major issue for municipalities in Paris

The candidate of the presidential majority wants to entrust the entire collection of household waste to the private sector (currently the collection is under direct management in half of the districts). It also retains the idea put forward by Benjamin Griveaux, to set up "street managers" in each district "to whom we can report a damaged sidewalk, a crowded street".

Agnès Buzyn wishes to entrust the entire collection of household waste to the private sector. LP / Olivier Boitet

Rachida Dati, she promises to renovate the public space by replacing the current "poor quality tar imitation" and to develop the use of "new tools", such as "vacuum cleaners, air cleaners that polish the sidewalks" or “compacting bins”.

Place of the car in Paris: vague objectives

With the closure of the lanes on the bank of the right bank as a figurehead, the place of the car is the major theme that opposes them both to Anne Hidalgo. However, neither of them clearly pronounced on the reopening of cars on the bank lanes.

The ban on car traffic on the quays on the right bank is unanimous today. LP / ELM

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Agnès Buzyn maintains this vagueness too. "The closure of the banks has generated traffic jams and displaced the pollution," points out the former Minister of Health. Rachida Dati, for her part, prefers to defer to the inhabitants by promising a "major consultation on the mobility scheme" that she is preparing. Asked about the ban on Diesel vehicles, "this is the meaning of history and it will one day have to get there," concedes Rachida Dati without further details on the date set as a goal.

READ ALSO> What Parisians expect in terms of transport

Agnès Buzyn, she advocates a "public private partnership to develop public transport" and also promises a "secure bike plan".

Reserved places in social housing for Dati, reduce vacant housing for Buzyn

The exodus of the middle classes is a common concern. Rachida Dati proposes to change the criteria for allocating social housing to "favor people living in Paris" and to reserve "some for nursing staff and security forces".

Agnès Buzyn also wants to make this accommodation available to people who work for Parisians. "This is already the case for city officials but insufficiently for nurses, for example," she said. Another axis for the LREM candidate: “put at least 20,000 vacant housing out of the 100,000 existing on the market. "

Finance: a consensus on the objectives

Agnès Buzyn promises not to increase the debt (5.9 billion euros) while Rachida Dati, she undertakes to reduce it, in particular via “disposals of non-strategic assets”.

The candidate LR also undertakes to "reduce municipal rates related to families and the elderly". And the two candidates agree on the promise not to raise taxes. "For one euro spent, one euro will be saved," says Agnès Buzyn. A common point with Anne Hidalgo who renewed this promise when she was not yet officially a candidate.