This could have marked a rapprochement between Anne Hidalgo and Rachida Dati.
It will ultimately be yet another disagreement between the mayor (PS) of Paris and the Minister of Culture, also mayor (ex-LR) of the 7th arrondissement.
While Rachida Dati had demanded on X (formerly Twitter) that the Eiffel Tower be now classified, her wish remained pious.
This Thursday, interviewed on TF 1, Anne Hidalgo made it very clear that she had no intention of classifying the emblematic Parisian monument: “No, I am not going to ask for it.
André Malraux, the greatest Minister of Culture (apart from Jack Lang) that France has had, himself rejected this idea of classification.
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Today the #Eiffel Tower does not have sufficient protection.
For this it is necessary to initiate a classification procedure.
This would allow it to benefit from:
🔵scientific and technical control from the State
🔵if necessary to undertake official work
⬇️
— Rachida Dati ن (@datirachida) February 22, 2024
Already listed as a historic monument since June 24, 1964 and a UNESCO world heritage site since 1991, the Eiffel Tower would have benefited from a higher stage with this classification which would allow the State to put the owner on notice by asking to carry out the necessary work.
If the latter were ultimately not committed, the regional prefecture could have this work carried out at the expense of the owner, namely the City, via the Eiffel Tower Operating Company (Sete).
The mayor of Paris also wanted to remind Rachida Dati that “the State [owed] another 1.4 million euros for the work on the tower”.
“Let it pay its dues already,” concluded the councilor, while assuring that “360 million euros” were invested to protect the Parisian monument.
In recent days, Sete employees launched a strike which lasted almost a week.
Among their demands, the “state of disrepair” of the Eiffel Tower was highlighted.
“Unheard of among employees with thirty years of seniority or more,” the unions then estimated, particularly regarding the apparent traces of rust which are, however, due to several factors.