"The real campaign, it starts now and nobody can predict what will be the result of this election", she wants to believe. Anne Hidalgo did not hide a certain impatience, this Thursday, January 13, during her press conference presenting her presidential program, near the Gare de Lyon in Paris. And his desire to "bring the debate back to the real issues" after weeks spent commenting on bad polls or the impossible gathering of the left. "I have confidence in the verdict of the French men and women and I only hope for one thing: that they judge us on paper, values against values, project against project", underlined the socialist candidate.
For an hour, the mayor of Paris detailed the main measures of her program which includes 70 proposals and aims to respond to a triple social, ecological and democratic crisis.
"I want to unite France in justice, it is our compass, our line of conduct and it supposes a break with the current course of the policy", explained the candidate.
“My program is on the left, ecologist, socialist, social democrat or even social and republican.
For me, it's the same thing because it goes far beyond partisan considerations, ”she said.
"Meeting the social challenge"
This is the first part of Anne Hidalgo's program which is based on "the revaluation of work".
"The flagship measure that I will take from the start of my mandate is the minimum wage which will be raised by 15%, or 200 euros net per month," began the socialist.
It is the biggest increase in the minimum wage proposed by a left-wing candidate.
A catching-up measure which corresponds to "the unfair gap which has widened in recent years between the highest salaries and the others," she said.
In general, the contender for the Élysée wants to limit the pay gaps from 1 to 20 in each company.
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Presidential: Hidalgo, Taubira, Jadot, Mélenchon… the puzzle-like left
Regarding teachers, his proposal to double teachers' salaries, which appeared in his book "A French Woman", published in September, and which many considered unrealistic, no longer appears in full in his program. Where one can read that “the remuneration of teachers will be brought gradually to the level of that of executives starting with the beginnings of their careers”.
Other measures of this social chapter on which the candidate wishes to invest 14 billion euros per year, the promise of equal pay between women and men or the creation of paternity leave of 16 weeks, 6 of which are compulsory, on the Spanish model. Anne Hidalgo also promises to maintain the legal retirement age at 62, undertakes to build 150,000 social housing units per year and defends the creation of a “housing shield” so that no household spends more than a third of his income for housing.
For young people, the candidate undertakes to create a minimum youth level for those over 18, subject to the condition of resources and to make available a capital of 5,000 euros for each new major "to finance professional and personal projects".
Regarding health, she had already explained in our columns wanting to put an end to the logic of "hospital business".
"Meeting the ecological challenge"
"I do not want just ecology but a fair ecology", hammered the mayor of Paris, to clearly mark his supposed difference with Yannick Jadot. It promises to devote an envelope of 15 billion euros per year to it. "The middle classes and popular categories cannot be those who pay the high price for this great transformation: it is the case today", warns the one who says herself in favor of "ecological planning", a borrowed term to Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Its flagship measure: third-party payment to encourage households to undertake thermal renovation of their homes.
“Very concretely, the Caisse des dépôts et consignations will advance the money necessary for the work directly to the companies that will carry them out and it will then reimburse itself at the time of the sale or transmission of the accommodation by inheritance.
The work will therefore be free immediately and then financed at the time of the transfer thanks to the energy savings achieved in current consumption, ”explains the candidate.
Among other measures, it promises to commit to the objective of 100% renewable energy, to support the installation of young farmers or to make aid to companies conditional on compliance with social and environmental criteria.
"Meeting the democratic challenge"
“I want to put an end to this republican monarchy which is suffocating French democracy.
Macron wants to keep power, I want to give it back to the French, ”announced Anne Hidalgo.
To "democratize" the Fifth Republic, she promises to create a citizens' initiative referendum (RIC), explaining that she heard the "legitimate" demand expressed during the movement of yellow vests.
The city council also defends "a decentralized Republic", the establishment of the right to vote from 16 years old, the right to vote for foreigners in local elections or even the consideration of the blank vote.
Finally, it provides for recourse to “strictly limited” ordinances and the impossibility for the government to engage its responsibility for forcing the adoption of a law (article 49-3) “except for budget laws”.
