QUESTION: The rules of the vote state that the opinion of the citizens will be "taken into account". How can we succeed in motivating voters if it is only advisory?

ANSWER: "The opinion of the Parisians will engage me. Self-service scooters are a subject of tension, worry in their daily lives. This citizens' vote, which is a first, is similar to a referendum even if it does not have the legal form. I wanted the same conditions as for a classic election."

Q: But neither proxies nor electronic voting are possible, and there are only 21 voting sites in all of Paris...

A: "We chose, for this first, to group the 203 polling stations into borough councils, most often, because it was easier for the reception. This is a new democratic exercise and it will be repeated every year."

Q: How much will this vote cost?

A: "We'll find out afterwards. This is the price of democracy. Anything that can make democracy, dialogue, consultation and consultation possible is better than blockages and withdrawals."

Q: How many voters will it take for you to consider it a success?

A: "It doesn't matter how many it is. The first year of the participatory budget (in 2014), we counted some 30,000 voters and today, we are around 200,000. They are tools of participatory democracy that improve by using them."

Electric scooters on a sidewalk in Paris in September 2021 © - / AFP/Archives

Q: If self-service scooters are excluded from Paris, will the many nuisances on public space be solved? What about private scooters?

A: "Inevitably, it will reduce nuisance. A study shows that in Lyon, there were seven times more accidents in one year when scooters arrived in 2019. It is a model that is expensive, with very questionable durability, which replaces walking. We take them and throw them away while personal scooters are different, we can take them home, to work, travel with them, we take care of them."

Q: But many Parisians deplore the incivility of other users, especially bicycles, which puts them in danger on the streets of the capital. You promised to have a "street code" adopted in the summer. What will it contain?

A: "It is always around the most vulnerable user, that is to say the pedestrian, that the rules of this street code must be decided. It will be the result of a joint development with the Citizens' Assembly (Parisians drawn by lot, editor's note), associations of pedestrians, cyclists, public transport users... Our municipal police will enforce this street code, especially with its video verbalization tools. We are also working with the Prefecture of Police, while the national police has completely disengaged from traffic in Paris."

Q: As for the ring road, are you sure you can reserve the Olympic lane for buses, taxis and carpooling after the Games?

A: "Yes, it will be a legacy of the Games. We are working with the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP) to establish the method and timetable for the debate in the coming weeks. It's a subject that goes far beyond Paris."

Q: At the same time, the timetable of the Greater Paris Low Emission Zone (ZFE), which prohibits access to the Paris metropolis to the most polluting vehicles, could be postponed again...

The rue de Rivoli in Paris, February 23, 2023 © LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP/Archives

A: "I am not in favour of a further postponement, so that we give in to a formidable lobbying. The problem is the social dimension of this ecological transition. During the presidential campaign, I proposed a social leasing that allows motorists who have to change their vehicle to access electric vehicles for 75 euros per month. The candidate Macron had taken up this proposal himself. Where do we stand? Nowhere. It must assume its responsibilities, stop giving in permanently to the fossil fuel lobby and support our fellow citizens who cannot currently acquire an electric or low-polluting car. As for remote license plate checks, I am ready to take on part of this investment."

Q: In 2018, you promised the end of diesel in 2024 in the capital, and that of combustion vehicles in 2030. Is this timetable sustainable?

A: "It is tenable, at least in Paris. The Parisian car fleet has dropped significantly, I have set up aids, and I do not give up."

Interview by Pierrick YVON

© 2023 AFP