Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
an origin hiding in an electrical substation while on the run from the police, riots broke out
in Paris'
cités,
the enormous housing estates encircling the capital where a dispossessed
population lives. The violence quickly spread to other cities in France and the government
called a state of emergency. Only 9000 burnt cars and buildings later was peace in Paris was
restored.
Bertrand Delanoë, a Socialist backed by the Green Party, became the first openly gay
mayor of Paris (and any European capital) in 2001. He was re-elected for a second term
in 2008.
The Presidential Pendulum
Presidential elections in 2007 ushered old-school Jacques Chirac out and the dynamic, am-
bitious and media-savvy Nicolas Sarkozy in. The former interior minister and chairperson of
centre-right party UMP
(Union pour un Mouvement Populaire)
wooed voters with promises
of reducing unemployment, job creation, lower income tax, a crackdown on crime and help
for France's substantial immigrant population - something that had particular pulling power
coming from the son of a Hungarian immigrant father and Greek Jewish-French mother.
And the French, fed up with an economically stagnant, socially discontented France, wanted
change. A new breed of French president was born.
Contrary to the rigorous economic reform platform on which he'd been elected and
against the backdrop of the global recession, Sarkozy struggled to keep the French economy
buoyant. Attempts to introduce reforms - eg the scaleback of the extremely generous French
pension system - provoked widespread horror and a series of national strikes and protests.
Sarkozy's popularity plummeted, paving the way for socialist Francois Hollande's victory in
the 2012 presidential elections.
With France still struggling to restart the economy, Hollande pledged to end austerity
measures and reduce unemployment. Many economic policies have thus far proved ineffec-
tual though, and rising anger at Hollande's failure to deliver on campaign promises saw his
popularity plunge even faster and further than Sarkozy's - his 20% approval rating is the
lowest of any French president in recent history - and resulted in a near total wipeout for
French socialists in the 2014 municipal elections. The 2014 election of socialist Anne
Hidalgo, Paris' first female mayor, meant the capital was one of the few cities to remain on
the political left.
