Bertrand Delanoë

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Bertrand Delanoë
Photo by Xavier Thomas
Mayor of Paris
Incumbent
Assumed office  25 March 2001
Preceded by	Jean Tiberi
Senator for Paris
In office 24 September 1995 – 27 March 2001
Member of the French National Assembly for Paris (26th constituency)
In office 21 June 1981 – 1 April 1986
Preceded by	Joël Le Tac
Succeeded by	Alain Juppé
Born	May 30, 1950 (1950-05-30) (age 58) Tunis, French Tunisia
Nationality	French
Political party	French Socialist Party
Website	http://bertranddelanoe.net/

Bertrand Delanoë (born May 30, 1950) /bɛʁtʁɑ̃ dəlanɔe/ (pronunciation (help·info)) is a French politician, and has been the mayor of Paris since 2001. He is from the French Socialist Party. He is considered to be a potential candidate for President of the French Republic in 2012.

Delanoë was born in Tunis, Tunisia to a Tunisian-French father and a French mother. He moved to France with his family in his teens. He is openly gay.^[1][2]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Early political career 2.1 Mayor of Paris 2.2 Potential Presidential Bid 2.3 Assassination attempt 2.4 Olympic bid 2.5 Homosexuality 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Early life

Bertrand Delanoë was born 30 May 1950 in Tunis, with an atheist father (land surveyor) and a Roman Catholic mother (a nurse). ^[3] At 6 years old, Delanoë became a member of the "Petits Chanteurs des Sables", a choral group associated with the Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois.^[4]

Delanoë was present, at the age of 11, during the battle of Bizerte^[5].

After the military base was closed in 1963, Delanoë's family broke up. His mother came to live in Rodez (Aveyron), with her son. After leaving school, Delanoë is said to have started studies in law at the University of Toulouse. The Who's Who in French lists him as having a diploma in economics ^[6].

[edit] Early political career

He has been involved in politics since the age of twenty-three as the secretary of the Socialist federation in Aveyron. He was first elected to the Paris city council in 1977. In 1993, he became the head of the city's Socialist Party. In 1995, he was elected to the French Senate, where he was secretary of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense.

[edit] Mayor of Paris

Delanoë has been mayor of Paris since March 18, 2001, when control of the city council was won by a left-wing alliance for the first time since the 1871 Paris Commune. His predecessors were Jean Tiberi (1995–2001), and Jacques Chirac (1977–95), who resigned after 18 years as mayor when he was elected president of France.

Delanoë won the mayorship of Paris, at the head of a coalition of Socialists, Greens and Communists, over the conservative candidates Jean Tiberi and Philippe Séguin, who were unable to resolve their differences and thereby split the conservative vote. This success in a city which has traditionally been a stronghold of the right was made all the more striking by setbacks to the Left in the 2001 elections that occurred more generally — has been partially attributed with the weariness of the Parisian public with respect to various scandals of corruption and graft in the preceding administrations (see corruption scandals in the Paris region).

Delanoë was virtually unknown before the election of 2001, but soon gained notoriety for organising new and unusual events in Paris, such as the "Paris Beach" (La Plage de Paris ) on the banks of The River Seine every summer in order to give Parisians who could not take a regular vacation a chance to relax, sunbathe and build sandcastles in the center of Paris. The program, especially popular with families with children, has been in place since 2002, and has since been copied by many other international cities.

Since becoming mayor, Delanoë's goals have been to improve the quality of life, reduce pollution, and cut down on vehicle traffic within the city (including a plan for a non-polluting tramway to ease Parisian traffic) and pedestrian malls. Recently he has helped introduce a new program called Vélib' (a portmanteau of “vélo" and "libre” meaning "free bicycles") which gives Parisians access to inexpensive rental bicycles which are available in stations all around Paris. The program has been enormously successful despite the fact that it still has a few logistical problems to be worked out.^[7] He has outlined a plan for an autolib, whereby small cars would be shared. ^[8]

He was reelected in 2008 (57,7%) for a new six-year-term (2008-2014).

[edit] Potential Presidential Bid

Delanoë may consider challenging current president Sarkozy in the Presidential election in 2012. However before then, he likely would need to win the battle to become First Secretary of the Socialist Party, held towards the end of 2008. Here he would likely face a challenge from Ségolène Royal. ^[9] Political polls six months before the Socialist Party Congress give Delanoë the advantage over Royal in a presidential election among the public.^[10]

[edit] Assassination attempt

He was stabbed on October 5, 2002 during the Nuit Blanche, a night of festivities in Paris, while mingling with the public. His assailant, Azedine Berkane, reportedly told police that "he hated politicians, the Socialist Party, and the homosexuals". Before being taken to hospital, Delanoë ordered that the festivities continue. Delanoë's wound was reported not to be life-threatening and he left the hospital after about two weeks.^[11] Azedine Berkane was eventually permitted to leave the psychiatric hospital where he had been a patient after his doctors no longer considered him a threat. However, in early April, 2007, he failed to keep a scheduled appointment with his doctors, and has not been seen since.^[12]

[edit] Olympic bid

The failure to secure the 2012 Summer Olympics for Paris on July 6, 2005 was Delanoë's first major setback as mayor. In the aftermath of the defeat in his Olympic bid, he accused British prime minister Tony Blair of unduly influencing the result in order to secure the games in London. However, Bertrand Delanoë's popularity in fact rose during July 2005 ^[13]. The French public appeared to have laid more of the blame on President Jacques Chirac, who allegedly said that "the only worse food than British food is Finnish" and "the only thing the British have done for Europe's agriculture is mad cow disease", which may have offended two Finnish members of the International Olympic Committee.

[edit] Homosexuality

Delanoë was one of the first major French politicians to announce that he was gay, during a 1998 television interview (before being elected mayor). His election as mayor made Paris the world's second largest city with an openly LGBT mayor after Berlin whose mayor is Klaus Wowereit (the third largest is Hamburg with Ole von Beust). All three have taken office since 2001; previously, the largest city with an LGBT mayor had been Winnipeg, Canada, with mayor Glen Murray.

While not taking an active part in the gay and lesbian community, Delanoë wants to make a difference, especially in ending discrimination in municipal subsidies to civic groups. Political opponents argue though that such choices are just a new example of clientelism.

[edit] See also

• Violence against LGBT people

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (French) Bertrand Delanoë's web site
• (French) Paris and beaches
• The Mayor of Paris, from www.paris.fr
• An opponent's view on Parisian politics
• BBC report on stabbing
• CityMayors.com profile
• (French) Poll of Parisians on Delanoë, January 2006

Preceded by Jean Tiberi

Mayor of Paris 2001–

Succeeded by Incumbent

Persondata
NAME	Delanoë, Bertrand
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	French politician
DATE OF BIRTH	May 30, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH	Tunis, Tunisia
DATE OF DEATH	living
PLACE OF DEATH