All that for this. On March 19, the Sunday newspaper published excerpts from the expense reports of Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, from 2017, the year in which the city obtained the organization of the Olympic Games. Claimed since 2018 by the Dutch journalist, Stefan de Vries, the Paris City Hall had until then always refused to send them to him.
But a decision of February 8 last of the Council of State forced the city councilor to respond to the request of the journalist. Done this Friday, as Stefan de Vries said on his Twitter account. But the latter was grilled exclusivity by the exclusivity of these revelations by the JDD in a race for information that we will kindly qualify as not very brotherly. In view of the information revealed by the duck, it is difficult to understand why such reluctance from the Paris City Hall.
Official trips
The bulk of the note lies in travel, protocol or representation costs. In all, the Mayor of Paris made 17 trips during the year. From the most expensive, in Lima on September 13, 2017 with the French delegation for the announcement of the winning city for 2024 which had been talked about at the time. This would have cost 10,945.37 euros for twelve people. At the most modest, a round trip to Barcelona on March 8 to attend Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League match against FC Barcelona which would have cost 260.86 euros.
Among the other trips, we find a trip to the Davos forum for 1,091.19 euros for four people, a trip to Tokyo to meet the members of the Olympic committee and the governor of the Japanese capital for 8,951.95 euros (six people), a trip to the Waterways forum in Chicago then a Women4Climate conference in New York in mid-March for 4,981.26 euros (six people) and a technical presentation of Paris 2024 in Lausanne in July for 2,232.04 euros. Finally, another notable trip, Anne Hidalgo went to the 8th Francophone Games in Abidjan on July 20, 2017 for an amount of 7,351.78 euros (five people).
On this subject, the JDD quotes Yves Charpenel, head of the ethics commission for elected officials of the Council of Paris, who sees no abuse in these trips: “What matters to me is that the costs incurred are directly related to the exercise of the mandate. This is the case here. I would add that the price of plane tickets is not very high; we see that Ms. Hidalgo is not traveling first class. »
Representation of French culture
Other items of expenditure stand out such as the restaurant bills of the city councilor such as the 540 euros spent in Lausanne, and two receptions at the Hôtel de Ville for 781.20 euros and 3,000 euros.
Clothing expenditure is also mentioned with the purchase of three Dior dresses for 1,188, 1,840 and 1,440 euros, a Courrèges dress at 720 euros, boots at 320 euros, shoes at 109 euros, sweaters, blouses, and even tights Monoprice.
You should know that since 2014, the Mayor of Paris has had an envelope of 19,720 euros for her entertainment expenses, an amount widely used by Anne Hidalgo since she spent almost everything in 2017, except for a balance of 34.53 euros. that she would have repaid.
Expenses that Anne Hidalgo’s cabinet justifies by the image of French culture and haute couture that the Mayor of Paris must represent: “These are not dresses at 10,000 euros and she reuses them . »
City Hall pulls the rug out from under Stefan de Vries
But then why did you drag your feet so much to disclose this information? Anne Hidalgo’s team advances a fear of “misplaced curiosity” and the risks of “populist voyeurism” to justify this secrecy.
After these revelations, the biggest indignation comes on the social networks on which many journalists rebuke the JDD and the City of Paris for having disclosed this information on Sunday, thus stealing the exclusivity of this information from Stefan de Vries who had nevertheless incurred numerous legal costs which made it possible to make public the debate around the expense reports of the mayor of Paris.