The deputy mayor of Paris, Bruno Julliard, this week resigned from his post in a blistering attack on the French capital’s socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, for who Julliard had previously been a close political ally. It was the latest significant blow for Hidalgo who hopes to be re-elected to the prestigious and politically strategic post in 2020. In this detailed report, Pauline Graulle and Ellen Salvi went behind the scenes at the Paris City Hall to hear from insiders their divided opinions on Hidalgo’s management of the riverside Hôtel de Ville, which increasingly appears like a ship taking on water.
If a week is a long time in politics, an adage attributed to former British prime minister Harold Wilson, the two years between now and the holding of municipal elections in Paris in 2020 is an aeon. Those hoping to take the highly prestigious and politically strategic post of mayor of the capital from the socialist incumbent Anne Hidalgo are only too aware of the minefield of unpredictable events ahead.
