Bertrand Delanoë
Bertrand Delanoë (born May 30, 1950; ) is a French Socialist politician, currently the Mayor of Paris.
Born in Tunis, Tunisia, Delanoë moved to France with his family when he was a teenager. He has been involved in politics since the age of 23 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 Sénat, where he was secretary of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense.
Delanoë 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 (1995-2001), and Jacques Chirac (1977-1995), who resigned after eighteen years as mayor when he was elected president of France.
Delanoë won the mayorship of Paris, at the head of a coalition of Socialists, Greens and Communists, over the right-wing candidates Jean Tiberi and Philippe Séguin, who were unable to resolve their differences and thereby split the right-wing vote. Such a success in a traditionally right-wing city, all the more striking since the 2001 elections were largely a recess for the Left, 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).
Since becoming mayor, his goals have been to improve the quality of life, reduce pollution, and cut down on traffic jams within the city (including a plan for a non-polluting tramway to ease Parisian traffic) and pedestrian malls. He is, however, heavily criticized by the right-wing opposition for having, allegedly, just increased traffic congestion and failed to deliver his promises.
Delanoë was virtually unknown before the election of 2001; he has since then become a rather popular mayor, organising new and unusual events in Paris, such as giant beach (Paris Plage) on the banks of the River Seine every summer since 2002.
Delanoë was the first major French politician to announce that he was gay, during a 1999 television interview (before being elected mayor). While not taking an active part in the gay and lesbian community, Delanoë wants to make a difference, especially in ending discrimination in municipal subsidies to civic groups.
He was stabbed on October 5, 2002 during the Nuit Blanche, a night of festivities in Paris. His assailant, Azedine Berkane, was reported to have told police that "he did not like politicians and in particular did not like homosexuals". Delanoë's wound was reported not to be life-threatening and he left the hospital after about two weeks.