Editing Bertrand Delanoë (section)

== Career ==
===Early political career ===
Delanoë has been involved in politics since the age of twenty-three as the secretary of the Socialist federation in [[Aveyron]].

He was first elected to the [[Council of Paris]] in 1977. In 1993, he became the head of the city's Socialist Party branch. In 1995, he was elected to the [[Senate (France)|Senate]], where he was secretary of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence.

=== Mayor of Paris ===
Delanoë became [[List of mayors of Paris|Mayor of Paris]] on 18 March 2001, when control of the Council of Paris was won by a left-wing alliance for the first time since 1977 (election with universal suffrage). His predecessors were [[Jean Tiberi]] (1995–2001) and [[Jacques Chirac]] (1977–1995), who resigned after 18 years as mayor when he was elected [[President of France|President of the French Republic]].

Delanoë won the mayorship of Paris at the head of a coalition of [[Socialist Party (France)|Socialists]], [[The Greens (France)|Greens]] and [[French Communist Party|Communists]], over the conservative candidates [[Jean Tiberi]] and [[Philippe Séguin]], who were unable to resolve their differences and thereby split the conservative vote. This success in a city which had traditionally been a stronghold of the right until the end of the 20th century was made all the more striking by setbacks to the left in the [[2001 French municipal elections|2001 municipal]] elections that occurred more generally. It has been partially attributed with the weariness of the Parisian public with respect to [[Corruption scandals in the Paris region|various scandals of corruption]] and [[Political corruption|graft]] in the preceding administrations.

Delanoë was virtually unknown before the election of 2001, but soon gained fame for organising new and unusual events in Paris, such as the "Paris Beach" (''[[Paris-Plages]]'') on the banks of the [[Seine]] every summer in order to give Parisians who could not take a regular vacation a chance to relax, [[Sun tanning|sunbathe]] and build [[sandcastle]]s in the center of Paris. The program, especially popular with [[family|families]] with children, has been in place since 2002, and has since been copied by many other international cities.

As mayor, Delanoë's goals were to improve the [[quality of life]], reduce pollution, and cut down on [[traffic|vehicle traffic]] within the city (including a plan for a non-polluting tramway to ease Parisian traffic) and [[pedestrian mall]]s. He helped introduce a program called [[Vélib']] (a [[portmanteau]] of "vélo" and "libre" meaning "[[Community bicycle program|free bicycles]]") which gave Parisians access to inexpensive rental bicycles available in stations all around Paris. The program has been enormously successful despite the fact that it still has a few [[Logistics|logistical]] problems to be worked out.<ref>[http://us.franceguide.com/article.html?NodeID=1&EditoID=88863 Vélib'information in English.] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20071103072200/http://us.franceguide.com/article.html?NodeID=1&EditoID=88863 |date=3 November 2007 }}</ref> He outlined a plan for an autolib, whereby small cars would be shared.<ref name="guardian.co.uk">{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/france/story/0,,2236005,00.html |work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Definitively a mayor à la mode | first=Jason | last=Burke | date=6 January 2008 | access-date=26 April 2010}}</ref> He was [[2008 Paris municipal election|reelected in 2008]] (57.7%) for a new six-year-term (2008–2014).

Ahead of the Socialist Party's [[Reims Congress|2008 convention in Reims]], Delanoë publicly endorsed [[Martine Aubry]] as candidate to succeed [[François Hollande]] at the party's leadership.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-11-17 |title=PS: Delanoë soutient Aubry |url=https://www.lejdd.fr/Politique/PS-Delanoe-soutient-Aubry-84174-3080825 |access-date=2023-08-13 |website=lejdd.fr |language=fr}}</ref>

In 2009, Delanoë criticized statements by Pope [[Benedict XVI]] about how condom use was unhelpful or even counter-productive in the fight against AIDS.<ref>[https://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hEeFMn08UmoVumJrQMQeBe0SflGQ Canadian Press article] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090322201604/https://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hEeFMn08UmoVumJrQMQeBe0SflGQ |date=22 March 2009 }}</ref>

Ahead of the Socialist Party's [[Toulouse Congress, 2012|2012 convention in Toulouse]], Delanoë endorsed [[Harlem Désir]] as candidate to succeed Aubry at the party's leadership.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-09-07 |title=Face à Cambadélis, Désir engrange les soutiens |url=https://www.lejdd.fr/Politique/PS-Manuel-Valls-soutient-Harlem-Desir-552438-3129605 |access-date=2023-08-13 |website=lejdd.fr |language=fr}}</ref>

====Assassination attempt====
Delanoë was stabbed on 5 October 2002 during the ''[[Nuit Blanche]]'', a night of festivities in Paris, while mingling with the public. His assailant was a Muslim immigrant, Azedine Berkane, who reportedly told police that "he hated politicians, the Socialist Party, and homosexuals." Before being taken to hospital, Delanoë ordered that the festivities continue. Delanoë's wound was not life-threatening and he left the hospital after about two weeks.<ref name=glbtq>{{cite web |last=Rapp |first=Linda |title=Delanoë, Bertrand |work=[[glbtq.com]] |date=13 August 2007 |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/delanoe_b.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011173644/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/delanoe_b.html |archive-date=11 October 2007  }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=America Alone |url=https://archive.org/details/americaaloneendo00stey_0 |url-access=registration |last=Steyn |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Steyn |year=2006 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/americaaloneendo00stey_0/page/120 120–121]|publisher=Regnery Pub. |isbn=9780895260789 }}</ref>

Azedine Berkane was eventually permitted to leave the [[psychiatric hospital]] where he had been a patient after his doctors no longer considered him a threat. However, in early April 2007, he failed to keep a scheduled appointment with his doctors.<ref>{{cite web | title=L'agresseur de Bertrand Delanoë a disparu, 7 April 2007 | url=http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/france/faits-divers/0,,3427811,00-agresseur-bertrand-delanoe-disparu-.html | access-date=3 September 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070914161635/http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/france/faits-divers/0,,3427811,00-agresseur-bertrand-delanoe-disparu-.html | archive-date=14 September 2007 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Paris police recaptured him on May 22.  He was returned to the psychiatric facility and placed into a high-security unit.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rapp |first1=Linda |title=Delanoë, Bertrand |url=http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/delanoe_b_S.pdf |website=Archives of the glbtq Encyclopedia Project |publisher=glbtq Encyclopedia |access-date=13 February 2024}}</ref>

====Olympic bid====
The failure to secure the [[2012 Summer Olympics]] for Paris on 6 July 2005 was Delanoë's first major setback as mayor. In the aftermath of the defeat in his Olympic bid, he accused British prime minister [[Tony Blair]] of unduly influencing the result in order to secure the games in London. However, Delanoë's popularity in fact rose during July 2005.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TF1 INFO - Actualités du jour en direct : Actualité en France et à l'International |url=https://www.tf1info.fr/ |access-date=2023-08-13 |website=TF1 INFO |language=fr}}</ref> The French public appeared to have laid more of the blame on President Jacques Chirac, who allegedly said that "the only worse food than British food is Finnish" which is widely believed to have offended two Finnish members of the [[International Olympic Committee]].

===Potential presidential bid===
Delanoë was said to be considering challenging then-current president Sarkozy in the [[2012 French presidential election|Presidential election in 2012]]. However, this plan suffered a setback in November 2008 when he lost the race for the party leadership to [[Lille]] mayor [[Martine Aubry]].<ref name="guardian.co.uk"/>

===Fake ''The New York Times'' letter===
On 22 December 2008, ''[[The New York Times]]'' published a letter attributed to Delanoë criticizing [[Caroline Kennedy]]'s candidacy for the [[United States Senate]] seat vacated by [[Hillary Clinton]]. The newspaper later admitted that the letter, which had been sent by email, had not been properly verified, and was a fake.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/opinion/22letters.corr.html | work=The New York Times | title=Editors' Note | date=22 December 2008 | access-date=27 March 2010}}</ref>