“We want, for tomorrow, a Paris that protects against real estate speculation, which continues to transform. A city which invests massively in our children's schools, which ensures quality health for all. A Paris which makes “adapting to climate change a priority, while continuing to invest massively in everyday public services”, they write in their appeal, of which AFP has had a copy.
“For this, we are convinced that Emmanuel Grégoire is best placed, within the socialist family and more broadly on the left, to carry out this project in the face of the risk of a hard right,” they add.
The 46-year-old MP, who inflicted a scathing defeat on the outgoing Macronist and ex-minister Clément Beaune by winning the 7th district of Paris with 50.87% of the votes in the first round, has for a long time been seen as the indisputable runner-up of 'Anne Hidalgo. But relations with the former socialist presidential candidate have become strained and both are now at odds.
“Few people have felt loyalty as I did with Anne Hidalgo”, whom he assured to have warned of his candidacy, explained Emmanuel Gregoire on Tuesday on franceinfo. “The time has, I believe, come to bring a new story for Paris, a new proposal, a new project,” he added, believing that “there is an expectation of renewal”.
Ms. Hidalgo, 65, continues to maintain suspense over a possible third candidacy in 2026. “The time has not yet come,” she recently declared in an interview with AFP.
But a relative assures that she “does not want to represent herself, that is quite clear to everyone”. According to this same source, she would have decided to support PS senator from Paris Rémi Féraud. The latter also indicated to Le Parisien that he was “preparing”.
Ms. Hidalgo criticizes Mr. Grégoire for his proximity to the boss of the PS, Olivier Faure, whom she accuses of being responsible for her defeat in the 2022 presidential election, and of having made an alliance with La France insoumise.
Emmanuel Grégoire said he was ready on Tuesday to submit to the “verdict of socialist activists” on his candidacy. Beyond that, he wanted to “be a candidate of unity of the left”, on the model of the current Parisian majority bringing together socialists, ecologists and communists.
But he does not want “this alliance to go as far as Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his friends”, on the one hand because “there was a very significant conflict of values” at the time of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, and “because they declare themselves in the municipal opposition.”
According to an Ipsos poll unveiled Monday in Le Parisien on potential candidates for Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo obtains 28% favorable opinions, behind Gabriel Attal (42%) and Rachida Dati (39%). Emmanuel Grégoire comes in 4th position, with 16%.
