Paris (AFP)

There are new ones like ex-journalist Audrey Pulvar and ex-rugby player Pierre Rabadan, and elected officials experienced in the exercise: Anne Hidalgo on Friday unveiled an armada of 37 assistants after being officially re-elected as mayor of Paris.

"I will continue the open path during my previous mandate," said the socialist mayor, who, allied with environmentalists, came in first in the second round of the municipal elections last Sunday, far ahead of Rachida Dati (LR) and Agnès Buzyn (LREM).

Elected on a resolutely ecological program, she was confirmed for a new six-year mandate before the 162 councilors of Paris who voted 96 votes for her.

The right has decided not to present a candidate. However, Rachida Dati assured that his group would be "a responsible, constructive and demanding opposition", and promised to prepare "the alternation".

It was also during this Paris council that the executive was presented and elected, made up of 37 deputies (including 19 men and 18 women, 25 from "Paris en Commun", 5 environmentalists, 4 communists and 3 elected by Generations) against 27 at the end of their previous mandate and 21 in 2014. The team will also be reinforced by three delegated advisers.

"We are in what Bertrand Delanoë was doing," said Anne Hidalgo, interviewed by AFP and Le Monde, ensuring that "it does not cost a penny more" in the budget of the City of Paris.

In his new composition, Emmanuel Grégoire will remain First Deputy Mayor and will be in charge of the heavy portfolio of town planning. Socialist Paul Simondon becomes deputy in charge of finance, and communist Ian Brossat will keep the accommodation.

After having declined for a long time, the EELV candidate David Belliard finally agreed to join the team and become an assistant in charge of Transport.

Alongside elected officials experienced in political life, several civil personalities inherit portfolios such as former journalist Audrey Pulvar, who will be in charge of sustainable food, ex-rugby player Pierre Rabadan, in sports and the Olympic Games, or the activist Jean-Luc Romero, for human rights.

- "More freshness" -

Two delegations appear: the one in charge of "the Seine", entrusted to Pierre Aidenbaum, and the "public construction and monitoring of construction sites" entrusted to the communist Jacques Baudrier.

"Yes, I understood that there had been problems," joked the mayor of Paris, long criticized for the incessant work in progress in the capital.

In this new team, "we mixed young and old, experienced elected officials and others who are not," noted Anne Hidalgo.

"When we come from civil society, we may be a little more pushy ... We do not see the blockages and we go," said the former player of the French stadium, Pierre Rabadan. "We have a less political vision, but more freshness," joked the man who was since 2015 special advisor to the mayor.

"All my life I have been in places where I was not expected," said Audrey Pulvar. With each experience, "at the beginning, one is very lost, but one must know how to make one's faults of the qualities." I hope not to take too much time to learn ".

While waiting for the Paris Council to be held at the end of July, Anne Hidalgo will make her first trip to the European Commission "to strengthen the relationship between Paris and the European Commission and the relationship between European mayors".

© 2020 AFP