Paris has undergone an enormous transformation in the last six years: it has created hundreds of kilometers of cycle lanes, has opted for the 15-minute city – which aims to bring facilities, jobs and markets closer to the neighborhoods – and has even converted an urban highway next to the Seine in a pedestrian area. After these changes is the mayor Anne Hidalgo (San Fernando, Cádiz; 62 years old), who has governed the city since 2014. Her urban ecological commitment earned her re-election as councilor in 2021 and has now contributed to her candidacy for the presidency of the Republic French next year. This Thursday, the militants of the French Socialist Party endorsed his candidacy, which Hidalgo wants to focus on “the ecological and digital transition, the commitment against climate change and the fight against inequality.” Daughter of people from Cádiz who emigrated to France, the already candidate went to the PSOE Congress in Valencia this Friday, where she attended EL PAÍS.
Question. How has Paris changed in your first term?
Answer. It has changed a lot, because I have been involved in the ecological transition of my city and also in beautifying the city.
P. Bike lanes, pedestrianization … Changes in public space generate much criticism. How have you managed them?
R. I have won re-election as mayor of Paris, which means that the majority of Parisians agreed with the changes. For them I act.
P. How should governments deal with climate change?
R. The great challenge we have in all countries is climate change, but we have to face it from equality. We must ensure that everyone can benefit from the measures, from new mobility to new ways of living in more efficient flats, which do not waste as much energy. For everyone to take advantage of these changes, equality policies must be proposed, as is being done for example in Spain. We must unite the issue of ecology with that of solidarity and equality, in a balance. This is what the Social Democrats throughout Europe are proposing today, and what I want to bring [en mi candidatura] in this presidential election. It is what I want to contribute to the debate in my country. I would like to carry out these policies where climate change, ecology and solidarity [van unidas]In other words, that everyone can benefit from what we are doing. It is the main challenge that we have in the countries so that citizens can continue to choose policies and politicians.
P. What policies do you look at?
R. In this matter I am proposing a project for France that is very similar to what Pedro Sánchez is doing in Spain, António Costa in Portugal and what Olaf Scholz is proposing in Germany, that is, a very social democratic and very environmentalist project. In my case, I have experience on large-scale ecology, because Paris is a large-scale city. This has allowed me to work internationally, because Paris has also been the city of the Paris Agreement. What I have seen is that the solutions exist: they are renewable energies, transforming our economy … The solutions exist, but they need public investment, which is present in Europe today because this European investment plan has given everyone a stronger possibility States to act and organize this investment plan on the challenges [climáticos]. What I see in Spain is that a large part of this European investment plan has been consecrated by Pedro Sánchez and his Government to Green Deal [Pacto verde]. This is the program that I am proposing in France, because I believe that we need governments of the left, social democrats, that have solidarity as an essential value, a progressive government left.
P. The environmental message penetrates more in large cities than in other territories. The yellow vests, for example, they protested against the rise in fuel prices. How to avoid the danger that there are people who think that the ecological transition is against them?
R. You have to look for other solutions. When you live in a large city, such as Paris, where you have a subway station or bus stop 10 minutes from home, it is not the same as when you are in a rural area without public transport or any other possibility than the car to move around. We have to think of different solutions for these territories and their way of organizing. I think that in Spain it is easier, because it is a very decentralized country where the regions have power, and that is very interesting, because the communities themselves organize means of transport to go from one town to another. France is a very centralist country, so we have not had the same opportunities. It is a country of Jacobin tradition where everything is decided from the Elysee Palace [sede del presidente de la República], and of course the same decisions cannot be made in a rural town or in a large city where all means of transport are available.
P. Could there be another crisis of yellow vests to measures against climate change? Or because of energy prices?
R. I believe that at any moment a crisis like that of the yellow vests. That protest was organized because gasoline increased in price by three cents. Now we are seeing that the increase in the price of gasoline and the difficulty of the popular classes to be able to use their car is becoming a very strong social problem. In Spain, the companies that carry energy were privatized, it is not the same as in France, but what the Spanish Government has done by lowering VAT on energy and electricity, what it is proposing to modulate and regulate energy prices is something very interesting. And what Pedro Sánchez has asked in Europe [que actúe para rebajar los precios de la energía] it is also something that can allow us to move towards a European solution so that people who are obliged to move by car today do not say: this ecology is being done against us. In any case, in 10 years there will be no production of cars with gasoline, so it is a problem that in 10 years will not exist [La Comisión Europea ha fijado 2035 para el fin de la venta de coches de combustión]. But it is a challenge that we have to approach with method, to allow people to have solutions other than the gasoline car.
P. Is there a joint candidacy with the environmentalists?
R. I am considering my candidacy, which will be that of the government and environmental left.
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