Dutch journalist Stefan de Vries has won his case against socialist Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and has finally been given access to the mayor’s expense account for 2017 after a tug-of-war that has lasted five years.
The freelance journalist, working in Paris and Amsterdam, launched his investigation in 2019. He wanted to find out more about the circumstances behind Paris becoming the host city for the 2024 Olympic games, and to determine whether Anne Hidalgo’s campaign to achieve this came at a cost for Parisian citizens. To do this, he attempted to consult the details of Anne Hidalgo’s expense accounts, or personal expenses paid by the city council.
De Vries was initially met with a categorical refusal from the mayor of Paris, even though a French law from 1978 is very clear on this subject: the expense accounts of a mayor are public documents, perfectly discoverable by the average citizen. The case went all the way to the Conseil d’État, one of France’s highest courts, which eventually ruled in favour of the journalist and ordered Anne Hidalgo to provide the requested documents by March 8th, 2023.
Despite this official administrative pressure, Anne Hidalgo’s office still baulked and delayed in providing the famous expense reports under various pretexts: staff on holiday, dispersion of the documents among different departments, lengthy collection, etc. On Friday, March 17th, Stefan de Vries was finally able to go to Paris City Hall where he was given six thick files containing the long-awaited information.
Before the architect of this lengthy investigation could share his findings, Le Journal du Dimanche published its own analysis of the socialist politician’s expense accounts. The mayor of Paris had a €19,720 representation expense envelope for 2017, plus plane, hotel, and restaurant reservations during her trips abroad. Mayor Hidalgo spent all the money allocated to her and made 17 trips abroad between January and September 2017. Despite this, no truly excessive travel-related expenses were incurred, according to Le Journal du Dimanche: second-class tickets, no prohibitive restaurant bills, and no protocol gifts. All the trips financed in this way are related to her mandate, according to the ethics committee responsible for examining the expenses of elected representatives of the Paris Council.
The amount of clothing expenses is more questionable: in the space of a few months, Anne Hidalgo bought three Dior dresses (€1,188, €1,840, and €1,440); a black Courrèges dress (€720); two Diane Von Fürstenberg dresses and their accessories (€1,660 and €895); as well as jumpers, trousers, and blouses. The mayor’s office explained that
the mayor of Paris embodies France abroad. She must therefore represent French culture and haute couture. But these are not €10,000 dresses. What’s more, she reuses them.
This may be true, but the total amount is considered somewhat high for a socialist politician who is inclined to call on her fellow citizens to be frugal, her opponents complain. The mayor of Paris also found a way to get reimbursed for pairs of tights she bought at Monoprix, which may seem exaggerated and even petty for someone whose monthly salary amounts to nearly €8,000.
If there was nothing scandalous in these expenses, why did Hidalgo resist so much to communicate them? The mayor of Paris defends herself by explaining that she wanted to avoid “populist voyeurism,” “misplaced curiosity,” and “unjustified polemics.” But her obstinacy in not disclosing the documents has, on the contrary, done everything possible to foster the animosity of Parisians towards her, and to reinforce her image as a public figure who believes herself to be above the law.
Today, while the mayor of Paris has announced her intention to run for a third time in the municipal elections, her popularity rating is lower than ever, even among her traditional electoral base.
