\n Emmanuel Gr\u00e9goire begins his first day in office as mayor of Paris on Monday, a week after beating rival Rachida Dati in the second round of local elections. The 48-year-old Socialist now steps into the limelight after years in the shadow of his political mentors. So who is he and what are his plans for the French capital? <\/p>\n
Issued on: 30\/03\/2026 – 08:07<\/p>\n
3 min Reading time\n<\/p>\n
Gr\u00e9goire was officially sworn in on Sunday, having won 50.5 percent of the vote \u2013 beating conservative contender and former culture minister Dati, on 41.5 percent, while Sophia Chikirou of the hard left got just over 8 percent.<\/p>\n
Shortly after winning office, he took a bike ride through the streets of Paris<\/a> towards City Hall, in a nod to his promise to make the French capital (even) greener.<\/p>\n Succeeding\u00a0fellow Socialist Party member Anne Hidalgo<\/a>, who held the post for 12 years, he now heads the 163-seat Paris city council \u2013 the country’s largest \u2013 and will handle a budget of \u20ac10.5 billion.<\/p>\n French left wins mayoral elections in Paris, Marseille and Lyon<\/a><\/p>\n Gr\u00e9goire was little known to the general public before the election campaign.\u00a0He has been described as a long-distance runner in Paris politics, having spent two decades as a loyal Socialist party insider behind the scenes.<\/p>\n Gr\u00e9goire was born in Les Lilas, an eastern suburb of Paris, in 1977. He studied political science in Bordeaux<\/a> and joined the Socialist Party in 2002, aged 24.<\/p>\n He worked in the medical and healthcare sector before going into politics full time.<\/p>\n In 2010 he became chief of staff of Paris\u2019s then-mayor, Bertrand Delano\u00eb<\/a>, then worked in the prime minister\u2019s office under Socialist president Fran\u00e7ois Hollande<\/a>.<\/p>\n He was first elected to the Paris City Council in 2014 and became Hidalgo\u2019s first deputy mayor from 2018 to 2024, handling key portfolios including the budget, urban policy and public services.<\/p>\n He was elected an MP in 2024, and last year launched his bid for mayor.<\/p>\n Rivalry within the left <\/p>\n Despite being the Socialist Party’s pick to succeed Hidalgo, a dispute between the two almost derailed his bid.<\/p>\n \u201cAnne Hidalgo didn\u2019t back me. She did everything she could to torpedo my candidacy. I am neither her candidate, nor her heir,\u201d Gr\u00e9goire told broadcaster Franceinfo last month, without elaborating.<\/p>\n He acknowledged their closely shared views about the future of Paris, but said his approach was \u201cdifferent” \u2013 describing himself as \u201cavailable, accessible and always listening”.<\/p>\n Having initially supported another Socialist figure as her successor, Hidalgo did ultimately endorse Gr\u00e9goire.<\/p>\n At the city level, Gr\u00e9goire led a broad left-ecologist political coalition of Socialists, Greens and Communists. But he refused any alliance with the hard-left party France Unbowed<\/a>\u00a0(LFI), led by firebrand Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon.<\/p>\n LFI had been a traditional ally of other left-wing parties, but the alliance collapsed as political rivals accused its politicians of tolerating anti-Semitic rhetoric. Some critics also blamed the hard left for fuelling tensions after a far-right militant was beaten to death in Lyon<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n Ahead of the runoff, LFI candidate Chikirou offered to join forces with Gr\u00e9goire against Dati, but he declined, saying they did not share the same \u201cvalues”.<\/p>\n Local elections ‘less vulnerable\u2019 to disinformation, despite targeted campaigns<\/a><\/p>\n Housing Parisians, not just tourists <\/p>\n Gr\u00e9goire put housing at the centre of his election campaign, repeatedly declaring: \u201cAirbnb is my enemy.”<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m fine with Parisians renting out their primary residence when they go on vacation. But I don\u2019t want entire neighborhoods in Paris to be emptied of their residents because apartments are used exclusively to house tourists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n With Paris\u00a0long one of the world\u2019s top tourist destinations, tens of thousands of apartments are used as tourist rentals<\/a> instead of being available to Parisians, he noted, pledging to\u00a0create 60,000 new social and affordable housing<\/a>\u00a0units as mayor.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the same problems in Paris as in New York, San Francisco, cities with which I have worked a lot on these issues,\u201d Gr\u00e9goire told the news agency AP. \u201cWhat happens if we don\u2019t regulate? Speculation drives residents out.\u201d<\/p>\n He also vowed to fight overcrowding at sites such as the Louvre<\/a> Museum\u00a0and the Montmartre neighbourhood, by urging tourists to experience lesser-visited locations.<\/p>\n Does Paris’s most picturesque neighbourhood need protecting from overtourism?<\/a><\/p>\n Continuing his predecessor’s green policies, Gr\u00e9goire has promised to further increase the number of cycle lanes <\/a>and make the River Seine<\/a> cleaner.<\/p>\n