Less than eight months before the Olympic Games, doubt is growing in the capital over the organization of the sporting event which should attract more than 15 million visitors. On the set of “Quotidien”, on November 22, Anne Hidalgo put a part back in the machine. The PS mayor of Paris declared loudly that transport would not be “ready” for the July 2024 deadline, deploring “an insufficient number and frequency of trains in certain places as well as an unfinished RER station”.
Guest of the “Grand Jury RTL-Le Figaro-M6-Paris Première” on Sunday, Clément Beaune wanted to rectify the situation after the exit of the socialist councilor. “We have work to do and we will be ready. This is our commitment and our duty. Ms. Hidalgo’s comments are shameful,” corrected the Minister of Transport. And to continue, bitter: “When you are mayor of the host city of the Games, which have not been hosted in France for 100 years, go parading on a television set to make people forget their personal turpitudes, and in particular their unjustified trip in Tahiti (…) it’s a shame and it’s a political betrayal.”
“We are working, we still have work to do for security, infrastructure, but we are on schedule. We will reveal this challenge,” he assured. The minister also took the opportunity to point out the absence of Anne Hidalgo from the strategic committees and working meetings to prepare the Olympics. “There is Madame Pécresse (LR president of the Île-de-France region), we don’t have the same sensitivity but she comes to work every time. Madame Hidalgo, never, he pointed out. It doesn’t matter, we will still succeed. We weren’t counting on Anne Hidalgo.” Before blowing the whistle for the end of recess: “These are the first cycling and sustainable Games in history. It should be a point of pride rather than a source of criticism.”
Beyond the Olympic deadline, Clément Beaune also does not spare the contested management of the capital by the former socialist presidential candidate. “I don’t think she’s a good mayor of Paris,” he said, referring to the problems of “cleanliness,” “insecurity,” and “traffic.” “When we use backlash, when we are ready to sacrifice the image of France to put an end to a controversy, we are not living up to the State and the general interest.”
Three years before the 2026 municipal elections, the former MP has never really ruled out running to succeed Anne Hidalgo as mayor of Paris. “I will not let go of my commitment to Paris, I did not choose to set up in a random place,” he said, having been elected in the 7th district of the capital. Before procrastinating: “I am already a Parisian elected official. We will then see the applications, the programs, the processes. It will come a little later”
