Paris mayors faces backlash over luxury spending
A controversy has erupted in Paris after a court compelled the city administration to release expense reports showing that Mayor Anne Hidalgo spent about €210,000 of public funds on clothing and travel between 2020 and 2024. The scandal widened when Jeanne d’Hauteserre, mayor of the 8th arrondissement, admitted to spending €36,000 on clothes during the same period, Kazinform News Agency reports.
According to Huffington Post France, the expense records list two Dior dresses worth €6,320, a Burberry coat for €3,067, and a Dior blouse for €1,120. The outlet also notes that public attention centered on Hidalgo’s 2023 trip to Tahiti, officially described as an inspection of an Olympic surfing venue. Critics claim the visit was extended by two weeks while the mayor continued posting on social media as if she had already returned to work in Paris.
City Hall defended the expenses, calling them “necessary for the dignified representation of Paris on the international stage” and highlighting Dior as a symbol of French culture and elegance. French media estimate that Hidalgo’s total representation expenses, including clothing and protocol costs, amounted to about €84,000 over five years despite the city’s financial difficulties.
Amid the uproar, d’Hauteserre explained her own spending as a wish “to be bien sapée,” or well dressed, adding that each arrondissement mayor receives €990 per month for discretionary use.
The situation has been further aggravated by reports from the Regional Audit Chamber of Île-de-France, which state that Paris’s debt now exceeds €9 billion, more than double its 2014 level. In this context, officials’ claims about the need for luxury wardrobes to maintain the city’s image sound particularly tone-deaf to many French citizens struggling with rising living costs.
Earlier, it was reported that Ferrari chairman John Elkann was sentenced to one year of community service after an investigation into tax evasion linked to a €1 billion family inheritance.
