Nominated this Wednesday political personality of the year by the Trombinoscope prize, the mayor (PS) of Paris Anne Hidalgo returns to the monster controversy triggered by the statements of her first deputy who had raised the hypothesis of a strict re-containment of three weeks in the capital.
And specifies his intentions for the presidential election of 2022.
Are you definitively evacuating the hypothesis of three weeks of strict confinement in Paris, mentioned on Thursday, February 25 by your first deputy?
ANNE HIDALGO.
First of all, it was never a proposal on my part, on our part.
If you listen to the interview on France Info, there is no mention of a request.
But do you understand that the footage may have seemed unreadable?
What was incomprehensible was the excitement around this unique subject.
I was discussing it with Professor Piarroux, who told me: disinformation is an integral part of the management of any epidemic.
Basically, strict confinement does not make sense.
We learned from the first confinement that it was necessary to be flexible, to give people the opportunity to go outside, to walk even in a limited area.
You are also opposed to confinement on weekends ...
It would be an inhuman measure in a very dense city like ours where many live in small apartments.
It would be reducing us to working and consuming by depriving us of all space for freedom and breathing.
Especially since nothing proves its effectiveness.
This is why I made alternative proposals: multiply by four the number of doses available to us to vaccinate more quickly, teach outside in parks and gardens, make large-volume public places available to students. , study the opening of certain museums, on registration and in reduced capacity, to alleviate the so difficult daily life of our fellow citizens, and of course to strengthen teleworking.
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It is up to the health authorities and the government to say so in a transparent manner and that we are debating it.
We must create consensus, share information and not be in the controversy or the instrumentalization of public speech, which suddenly becomes nitroglycerin.
In a time like this, politicians must be calm and determined.
The government promotes consultation with local elected officials.
Listening to you one has the impression that you are not being listened to?
I have good working relations with the prefects.
But is this consultation?
No.
For months, we have been in an ultra-centralized operation where we do not trust the mayors enough.
The management of this epidemic is decided in a Defense Council where everything is secret.
We would gain a lot by working in a coordinated manner.
"We need a start and propose another path for our country", assures Anne Hidalgo.
LP / Olivier Corsan
You have just been named political personality of the year by the Trombinoscope prize.
Where are you in your thinking for 2022?
The reasons for this award touch me: to have been able to stand up to adversity, and to have been re-elected in Paris.
And one of the arguments put forward to award me this award is to be in the court of potential candidates today.
It is the recognition of a work, a commitment and a method.
And for 2022?
I try to take my part and my whole part.
I repeat, during the municipal elections, I did not plan for a candidacy.
But since this election, there have been many requests around a major danger: that of having, if we continue like this, the extreme right in power in 2022.
Do you think a victory for the National Rally is possible?
A victory for the RN has unfortunately become a very high probability.
I don't want the far right for our country.
It would be chaos, violence.
Those who would suffer the most would be those who are already in the most difficulty.
How do you avoid this outcome?
We need a start and propose another path for our country.
We need to repair the links between the French.
Thanks to new solutions guided by two themes: to restore their pride to those who are always forgotten, the middle classes and popular categories, and to put ecology at the service of economic and social progress.
Ecology must be our backbone and solidarity our compass.
Do you understand these left-wing voters who already refuse the idea of voting Macron to block Marine Le Pen?
I will always block the far right.
Whatever happens.
But I understand that there is a lot of disappointment.
I saw a very strong dropout among left-wing voters who thought that Emmanuel Macron would have a much more human attitude towards refugees.
And then there was the yellow vests crisis, with episodes of management and law enforcement that struck.
And there, in the midst of a pandemic crisis, the reforms of unemployment insurance and pensions which point their noses… And our youth to whom we do not extend a hand.
Let's not be surprised that some are turning away.
How do you plan to do your part?
We will soon be launching the “Ideas in common” platform to work with citizens, elected officials, researchers, intellectuals and actors in the field.
In short, all those who wish to get involved in local groups.
I will travel a lot in towns and rural areas and wherever I am invited to listen, discuss, exchange, understand.
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Will these trips also be a way of erasing an overly Parisian image?
Being mayor of the capital is not a problem.
It is even rather an asset.
Paris is a benchmark for its ability to innovate, to invent new solutions in terms of ecology, travel and solidarity.
In addition, I was born in Spain and then I lived in Lyon (Rhône).
I arrived in Paris as a young labor inspector.
I felt good there because you meet the whole of France.
What's your schedule?
Until the summer, a lot of travel, and in the fall we may have things to say to each other.
I want to take that time, really.
The polls are not very good so far.
Doesn't that discourage you?
If I had looked at the polls two years ago, I was not re-elected mayor of Paris.
And undoubtedly not named today political personality of the year…
