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Bertrand DelanoĆ« (born May 30, 1950) /bÉŹtŹÉĢ dÉlanoe/ (pronunciation (helpĀ·info)) is a French politician, and has been the mayor of Paris since 2001. He is from the French Socialist Party. He is considered to be a potential candidate for President of the French Republic in 2012.
Delanoƫ was born in Tunis, Tunisia to a Tunisian-French father and a French mother. He moved to France with his family in his teens. He is openly gay.[http://www.citymayors.com/mayors/paris_mayor.html][http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2305849.stm]
Political career highlights
He has been involved in politics since the age of twenty-three as the secretary of the Socialist federation in Aveyron.
He was first elected to the Paris city council in 1977.
In 1993, he became the head of the city\'s Socialist Party.
In 1995, he was elected to the French Senate, where he was secretary of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense.
Mayor of Paris
DelanoĆ« has been mayor of Paris since March 18 2001, when control of the city council was won by a left-wing alliance for the first time since the 1871 Paris Commune. His predecessors were Jean Tiberi (1995ā2001), and Jacques Chirac (1977ā95), who resigned after 18 years as mayor when he was elected president of France.
DelanoĆ« won the mayorship of Paris, at the head of a coalition of Socialists, Greens and Communists, over the conservative candidates Jean Tiberi and Philippe SĆ©guin, who were unable to resolve their differences and thereby split the conservative vote. This success in a city which has traditionally been a stronghold of the right was made all the more striking by setbacks to the Left in the 2001 elections that occurred more generally ā has been partially attributed with the weariness of the Parisian public with respect to various scandals of corruption and graft in the preceding administrations (see corruption scandals in the Paris region).
Delanoƫ was virtually unknown before the election of 2001, but soon gained notoriety for organising new and unusual events in Paris, such as the "Paris Beach" (Paris Plage) on the banks of the River Seine every summer in order to give Parisians who could not take a regular vacation a chance to relax, sunbathe and build sandcastles in the center of Paris. The program, especially popular with families with children, has been in place since 2002, and has since been copied by many other international cities.
Since becoming mayor, DelanoĆ«\'s goals have been to improve the quality of life, reduce pollution, and cut down on vehicle traffic within the city (including a plan for a non-polluting tramway to ease Parisian traffic) and pedestrian malls. Recently he has helped introduce a new program called VĆ©lib\' (a ef="/wiki-Portmanteau" title="Portmanteau">portmanteau of āvĆ©lo" and "libreā meaning "free bicycles") which gives Parisians access to inexpensive rental bicycles which are available in stations all around Paris. The program has been enormously successful despite the fact that it still has a few logistical problems to be worked out.[VĆ©lib\'information in English.] He has outlined a plan for an autolib, whereby small cars would be shared. [[1]]
In an interview published on September 4 2007, he said that he would run for re-election as mayor in the March 2008 municipal elections.[Bertrand DelanoĆ« candidat Ć sa succession Ć la mairie de Paris, AFP (Le Monde), September 3, 2007 (French).] He is currently discussing residential tower blocks on the outskirts of Paris and is longlisted for the 2008 World Mayor award.
Potential Presidential Bid
DelanoĆ« may consider challenging current president Sarkozy in 2012, but he also faces a challenge from SĆ©golĆØne Royal. [[2]]
Assassination attempt
He was stabbed on October 5, 2002 during the Nuit Blanche, a night of festivities in Paris, while mingling with the public. His assailant, Azedine Berkane, reportedly told police that "he hated politicians, the Socialist Party, and the homosexuals".
Before being taken to hospital, Delanoƫ ordered that the festivities continue. Delanoƫ\'s wound was reported not to be life-threatening and he left the hospital after about two weeks.[Rapp, Linda (2007-08-13). Delanoƫ, Bertrand. glbtq.com.]
Azedine Berkane was eventually permitted to leave the psychiatric hospital where he had been a patient after his doctors no longer considered him a threat. However, in early April, 2007, he failed to keep a scheduled appointment with his doctors, and has not been seen since.[L\'agresseur de Bertrand Delanoƫ a disparu, April 7, 2007. Retrieved on September 3, 2007.]
Olympic bid
The failure to secure the 2012 Summer Olympics for Paris on July 6, 2005 was Delanoƫ\'s first major setback as mayor. In the aftermath of the defeat in his Olympic bid, he accused British prime minister Tony Blair of unduly influencing the result in order to secure the games in London. However, Bertrand Delanoƫ\'s popularity in fact rose during July 2005 [Sondage : Delanoƫ au top, Villepin galope (Survey: Delanoƫ on top, Villepin galloping), TF1, 21 July 2005 (French)]. The French public appeared to have laid more of the blame on president Jacques Chirac, who allegedly said that "the only worse food than British food is Finnish" and "the only thing the British have done for Europe\'s agriculture is mad cow disease", which may have offended two Finnish members of the International Olympic Committee.
Homosexuality
Delanoƫ was one of the first major French politicians to announce that he was gay, during a 1998 television interview (before being elected mayor). His election as mayor made Paris the world\'s largest city with an openly LGBT mayor, the second largest being Berlin, Germany, whose mayor is Klaus Wowereit. The third largest is Hamburg, Germany, whose mayor is Ole von Beust. All three have taken office since 2001; previously, the largest city with an LGBT mayor had been Winnipeg, Canada, with mayor Glen Murray.
While not taking an active part in the gay and lesbian community, Delanoƫ wants to make a difference, especially in ending discrimination in municipal subsidies to civic groups. Political opponents argue though that such choices are just a new example of clientelism.
See also
References
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
| Persondata
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| NAME
| Delanoƫ, Bertrand
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| ALTERNATIVE NAMES
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| SHORT DESCRIPTION
| French politician
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| DATE OF BIRTH
| May 30, 1950
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| PLACE OF BIRTH
| Tunis, Tunisia
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| DATE OF DEATH
| living
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| PLACE OF DEATH
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia |
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