Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [42]
In 2007 Mayor Bertrand Delanoë challenged the law – and Parisians’ way of thinking – when he invited a dozen architectural firms from around the world to submit drawings for towers exceeding 100m in three different areas of the city, including Porte de la Chapelle in the 18e and the Masséna-Bruneseau district of the 13e but not the traditional skyscraper district of La Défense. The move was opposed by all opposition parties and, in a municipal survey, 63% of all Parisians.
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GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Paris is run by the maire (mayor), who is elected by the 163 members of the Conseil de Paris (Council of Paris). They serve terms of six years. The mayor has around 18 adjoints (deputy mayors), whose offices are in the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall).
The first mayor of Paris to be elected with real powers was Jacques Chirac in 1977; from 1871 until that year, the mayor was nominated by the national government as the capital was considered a dangerous and revolutionary hotbed. After the 1995 election of Chirac as national president, the Council of Paris elected Jean Tiberi as mayor, a man who was very close to the president and from the same party. In May 2001, Bertrand Delanoë, a socialist with support from the Green Party, became the first openly gay mayor of Paris (and of any European capital). The next election, which should have taken place in 2007, was deferred until March 2008 in deference to the national elections that year. Delanoë handily won re-election to a second term in the second round of voting.
The mayor has many powers, but they do not include control of the police, which is instead handled by the Préfet de Police (Chief of Police), part of the Ministère de l’Intérieur (Ministry of the Interior). Delanoë continues to enjoy widespread popularity, particularly for his efforts to make Paris a more livable city by promoting the use of bicycles and buses, reducing the number of cars on the road and creating a more approachable and responsible city administration.
Paris is a département – Ville de Paris; No 75 – as well as a city and the mayor is the head of both. The city is divided into 20 arrondissements and each has its own maire d’arrondissement (mayor of the arrondissement) and conseil d’arrondissement (council of the arrondissement), who are also elected for six-year terms. They have very limited powers, principally administering local cultural activities and sporting events.
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NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
France is a republic with a written constitution adopted by referendum in September 1958 (the so-called Constitution of the Fifth Republic) and adapted 18 times since, most notably in 1962 when a referendum was organised calling for the election of the president by direct universal suffrage; in 1993 when immigration laws were tightened; in 2000 when the president’s term was reduced from seven to five years; in 2003 when parliament approved amendments allowing for the devolution of wide powers to the regions and departments; and in 2007 when it banned the death penalty.
As the capital city, Paris is home to almost all the national offices of state, including, of course, the Parlement (Parliament), which is divided into two houses: the Assemblée Nationale (National Assembly) and the Sénat (Senate). The 577 deputies of the National Assembly are directly elected in single-member constituencies for terms lasting five years (next election: 2012). Until September 2004 the rather powerless Senate counted 321 senators, each elected to a nine-year term. Now the term is six years and the number of senators will increase to 346 by 2010 to reflect changes in the France’s demographics. Senators are indirectly elected by one half every three years. The president of the republic is directly elected for a term lasting five years and can stand for re-election.
Executive power is shared by the president and the Conseil des Ministres (Council of Ministers), whose