A dive into history. The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo will swim in the Seine on June 23, we learned from Anne Hidalgo’s entourage, thus confirming information from Le Parisien. The presence of Laurent Nuñez, the Paris police chief, and Marc Guillaume, the regional prefect, is however not confirmed by the main parties involved, we are told.
Anne Hidalgo had announced, as early as January, her intention in the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. A way for the Parisian city councilor to convince that “the Seine is a river that we take care of” and to reassure about the planned holding of the Olympic events in the Parisian river.
However, Anne Hidalgo’s entourage clarified with Le Figaro that the date of June 23 “is likely to change”. Everything will depend on weather conditions and the state of the river. An order from the regional prefect will in any case be necessary to authorize this swimming to the extent that it is, for the moment, prohibited to swim in the Seine.
The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron also promised last February, during the inauguration of the Olympic village, to dive into the Parisian river. A promise that has so far been left unheeded. Already in 1990, Jacques Chirac, then mayor of Paris, had promised to “bathe in the Seine in front of witnesses”. A promise never fulfilled.
Since 2016, the State and local authorities in the Paris region have invested around 1.4 billion euros to make the Seine and its main tributary, the Marne, suitable for swimming.