France: deconfinement, an issue in the campaign for the Paris city hall

Interrupted in mid-March by the Covid-19 crisis and containment, the municipal campaign surreptitiously resumed in favor of deconfinement. REUTERS / Benoit Tessier

Text by: Valérie Gas Follow

The conditions of deconfinement in Paris are debated between the government and the town hall. Parks and gardens will not reopen in the capital. Olivier Véran answered no to the request of Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris who is maneuvering to manage the Covid-19 epidemic in the city, to the chagrin of her main opponent in the municipal election, Rachida Dati , who does not disarm. In Paris, deconfinement is an opportunity to campaign.

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Hidalgo versus Dati, it continued during the Covid-19 epidemic. The two candidates did not give up preparing for the municipal election in Paris. Anne Hidalgo, the reigning mayor, stepped up on the second day of the deconfinement to defy the government. She asked for the reopening of the capital's parks and gardens, citing "  the needs of Parisians  ".

A request immediately filed without action in the name of the risk of circulation of the virus in the red zone by the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, but which enabled Anne Hidalgo to recommend in passing the wearing of masks in parks and in "  all 'streets  ' of the city.

One way to disavow the government's decision not to make it compulsory in public space.

The mayor of Paris is playing her card because deconfinement is also an issue in the municipal campaign - from which Agnès Buzyn has disappeared - but where she has to face a Rachida Dati determined to fight it out and who never stops criticizing her for her management of the epidemic.

Last attack to date on the masks ordered by the mayor of Paris, deemed "  unsuitable and not protective  ".

The date for the second round will not be known until May 23, but until then the candidates continue the campaign.

► Read also: France: green light from the government to install the municipal councils elected in the 1st round

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  • France
  • French politics
  • Coronavirus
  • 2020 municipal elections

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