“The president of the Caisse des Dépôts said that ecological debt was more serious than financial debt. Stand up if you don’t agree with this! »: By presenting her Climate plan this morning to the Paris Council, the mayor of Paris was combative towards her opposition on the right, who accuses her of increasing the debt, while on the contrary she argues that it invests for future generations. And today she showed herself firm in the face of criticism of another kind coming from her own majority, who criticize her for having accepted the Olympic Games in the capital.
Speaking on behalf of the Les Ecologistes group, Alexandre Florentin, president of the Information and Evaluation Mission on Paris at 50 degrees, regretted an “inconsistency” regarding the Olympics: “We do them to support the attractiveness from Paris, but we have tourists who come by plane. Getting out of fossil fuels also means getting out of the air,” pointed out the elected official. An hour earlier, the mayor had underlined the city’s determination to “get away from fossil fuels”. And the president of the Ecologists group, which was the only one to vote against the capital’s candidacy for the organization of the 2024 Olympic Games, had urged the town hall to “renounce the disproportionate grandeur of major events like the Olympics”.
Virtuous transformations thanks to the Olympics, judge Hidalgo
The criticism did not shake Anne Hidalgo, who indicated “respect the position [du groupe les Ecologistes] on the Olympics”, but wanted to recall a certain number of points:
“The clean and swimmable Seine is a subject that would perhaps have taken 20 years, if we had not had a joint agreement. And go see the buildings on Ile-Saint-Denis: this allows people to live in dignified housing. And you believe that it is not thanks to the Olympics that we will be able to create an Olympic route and then a dedicated route [au covoiturage] ? I respect your proposal but let’s be honest: without the Olympics many of our transformations would not have been possible. »
The Triangle Tower singled out
The debate organized this morning on the Climate plan was an opportunity for the mayor to outline the different points of her climate plan, noting “incredible timing” after an important agreement was reached in Dubai, during Cop28 , on the exit from fossil fuels. Energy renovation, reduction of the space for thermal cars, greening of the city, social justice… Anne Hidalgo recalled the measures presented in mid-November.
On the other hand, her right-wing opposition attacked the mayor’s record, particularly on the Triangle Tower, which today appears to many building specialists and environmentalists as a “climate aberration”. “There is a contradiction between your objectives and what you did, it was you who set up the Triangle Tower and you concreted Paris, with 3 million square meters more,” criticized Pierre-Yves Bournazel , co-president of the Independents and Progressives group. Recognizing a climate plan that was “better than the others,” La France Insoumise elected official Laurent Sorel said he had “a hard time understanding how the same city made the Triangle Tower.”
Soon a more precise budget for the climate plan
Right-wing elected officials have also continued to ask for more precise figures regarding the financing of the plan: “We expected Paris to set an example with an articulated and budgeted climate plan to go beyond words and propose a real action plan,” lamented Agnès Evren, senator and municipal councilor with the Changer Paris group. “If we want to succeed with this climate plan we must finance it, why not have a multi-year plan? » asked Pierre-Yves Bournazel, who points to a revegetation objective that is “very vague in relation to the techniques used” and a lack of “indicators”.
From this point of view, the executive’s response was clear and clear: yes there will be precise figures, be patient, said Dan Lert, deputy in charge of the ecological transition and the Climate plan: “D’ here the adoption of the Climate Plan, in spring 2024, with the climate budget, we will go further in budgetary planning, which will integrate an investment trajectory to 2030 and document the financing needs of the ecological transition at the local level. The numerous indicators will allow citizens to evaluate and monitor the implementation of the climate plan. » In passing, the elected official took the opportunity to tackle elected officials Maud Gatel and Pierre-Yves Bournazel, close to the government, recalling that the French state has been condemned for climate inaction.