A Delightful Tale of Two Socialist Cities: London and Paris by Ken Livingstone March 14, 2001 The Independent, UK The high drama now dominating French politics over the Parisian mayoralty underscores once again how important the political complexion of its capital city is to any national government. One BBC commentator suggested that the prospect of a Socialist victory in Paris was about as welcome to President Chirac as Ken Livingstone was to Tony Blair. If anything, that seems somewhat unfair on Tony, given the lengths Jacques Chirac is now said to be going to in order to prevent a Socialist from seizing his old power- base from under his nose. President Chirac is said to be working furiously behind the scenes to hammer out a package wherein the various right-wing factions in Paris can be persuaded to unite behind one candidate to see off the Socialist Bertrand Delanoë. Although Delanoë is now the front runner, having polled 31.3 per cent in the first round of the election, he is by no means assured of victory. He is, though, aided by the split within the neo-Gaullists of the RPR, who are divided between the incumbent mayor, Jean Tiberi * who polled 14 per cent * and the official RPR candidate, Philippe Séguin, who mustered 25.7 per cent. Tiberi, who is mired in allegations of corruption and vote-rigging, has proposed that the right unite behind one candidate, but Séguin is resisting. That is good news for Delanoë, who has further strengthened his position by formally establishing an alliance with the Green Party, which polled 12.3 per cent in the first round. Whether it is Séguin or Delanoë, I look forward to working with a new mayor who can put the problems of Parisian mayoral politics behind him. Séguin recently visited London on a fact-finding tour, and I was impressed with his interest in London's problems. His team spent a large part of our meeting discussing the proposed congestion charging scheme. Of course, I very much look forward to the possibility that London and Paris could both be governed by democratic socialists. Who would have thought, even 18 months ago, that Londoners would have seen an independent defeat of all three main parties in a city- wide election? Or that Paris would be on the verge of electing its first left-wing mayor since the Paris Commune in 1871; and that Parisians, in doing so, would be putting the first gay man into high-profile public office in France? Even if Delanoë falls at the last hurdle, his achievement in shaking up the political landscape of France is significant. Victory in last May's election did not come easily in a struggle to convince five million voters in the third- biggest constituency in Western Europe * after those for the French and Portuguese presidencies. It was the result of a policy that was pursued for a decade. The core of that approach was, and is, that the left is not about being in opposition. On the contrary, the left's purpose is to seek office and use it to improve the position of ordinary people. That is the challenge that Delanoë, like me, will face in his city if he wins the second round of the election. It means recognising that for any politician to govern a huge and contradictory metropolis, they must demonstrate that they speak for the interests of the city as whole. One such issue facing European city governments is the proposed European Commission regulation that, if passed by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, will make virtually all EU public transport * including the London Underground * subject to compulsory competitive tendering every five years. The proposed "Regulation on public service requirements in passenger transport" could have the force of law by the end of this year. Within three years, I would be obliged to put the Underground out to tender. The new regulation would apply to virtually all rail, bus, Metro and light rail services in the EU. The implications for the transport networks in Europe's major cities are obvious. In building a Europe-wide response to this proposal, the role of the big cities' elected authorities will be key. In discussion with my officers, Parisian officials have raised their view that the needs of the great cities are often overlooked in European affairs in favour of regions. They propose that the cities need to promote what they call urbanisme. I agree. One of the most striking impressions of my recent meetings with US mayors was that they were actively promoting an urban agenda to improve the quality of life of those who live in big cities. Most impressively, they had established an alliance in favour of greater investment in rail networks * both inter-city services and Metro systems. This united mayors from both parties and from all parts of the US. This week's reported leak from Downing Street, which implied that a shift in resources away from London to the North was necessary, misunderstands the dynamics of a capital city that faces major infrastructural problems as well as great extremes of social need. One lesson emerging from France, regardless of who wins Paris, is that we need a bit of urbanisme over here. Ken Livingstone is the Mayor of London. _______________________________________________ CrashList website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
