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Paris mayor says Olympic rings to stay on Eiffel Tower ‘until 2028’

Paris's mayor said on Friday that she intended to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower until at least 2028 despite criticism of the idea from some residents and lawmakers.

Published: 6 September 2024 12:58 CEST
Paris mayor says Olympic rings to stay on Eiffel Tower 'until 2028'
The moon rises behind the Olympic rings displayed on the Eiffel Tower in Paris on July 22, 2024, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)

The logo of five interlocking rings was erected on the beloved monument before the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, and it has become a popular backdrop for selfies by visitors.

Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist mayor in power since 2014, caused widespread surprise last weekend by saying she intended to retain the symbol.

“The proposal that I have made for the rings … is a proposal that until 2028, until the Games in Los Angeles, we will leave the rings on the Eiffel Tower,” she told reporters at a press conference.

“Perhaps after 2028, they’ll stay and maybe they won’t. Let’s see,” she added.

The idea has sparked criticism from many opposition Parisian lawmakers, residents as well as conservation groups.

The descendants of the tower’s designer, Gustave Eiffel, issued a statement saying that it “does not seem appropriate to us that the Eiffel Tower, which has become the symbol of Paris and the whole of France since its construction 135 years ago, has the symbol of an outside organisation added to it”.

READ MORE: ‘Madness’: Should Paris keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower?

Deputy mayor Pierre Rabadan confirmed to AFP on Tuesday that Hidalgo wanted to keep the rings permanently on the tower.

The Agitos logo for the Paralympic Games, which wrap up on Sunday, was placed on the Arc de Triomphe but will be moved to a location mid-way up the Champs-Elysees avenue, Hidalgo added.

Some critics have slammed the Eiffel Tower announcement as a personnal initiative taken without consulting the city’s council, or the capital’s residents more broadly.

“The mayor of Paris is not someone who lets opportunities slip by,” Hidalgo told reporters. “When you’re mayor you take decisions because you are legitimate to take them.”

The rings belong to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) while the Eiffel Tower is the property of the city of Paris.

It is on a list of protected monuments which is likely to complicate the task of keeping the logo.

The current rings will have to be removed because they are too heavy to keep on the monument, with the IOC financing a technical study to design new, lighter versions that can be attached to an attraction known affectionately by Parisians as “the Iron Lady”.

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PARIS

Paris to bring 50km/h speed limit to congested ring road

Drivers on Paris' vital, congested ring road will be limited to speeds of 50 kilometres per hour from October, the French capital's mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Monday, triggering outrage among opponents.

Published: 9 September 2024 12:57 CEST
Paris to bring 50km/h speed limit to congested ring road

As well as raising hackles among drivers and conservatives, the Socialist mayor also faces an uphill battle for approval from the national government and police.

That showdown is in suspense for now, as freshly-installed Prime Minister Michel Barnier selects his ministers.

Crucial for road travel throughout the wider Ile-de-France region, Paris’s Boulevard Peripherique — known familiarly as the ‘Periph’ — is under the authority of the capital’s city hall.

READ MORE: Why the Paris périphérique is more than just a ringroad

“The 50 kph (limit) is my decision. It will happen on October 1st. We’ve been working on it for 18 years, this isn’t a new topic,” Hidalgo told broadcaster RTL.

A lower speed limit has been on the cards since January, when city hall said it would come in after the July-September Olympic and Paralympic Games that ended Sunday.

Hidalgo has also argued the reduction in the speed limit – which would decrease pollution – would also help to achieve climate goals and better public health.

Who can actually change the speed limit?

As a result of a decentralisation law passed in 2017, French law has allowed for the town hall to have power over the speed limit on its ring road, attorney Rémy Josseaume explained to BFMTV.

This means that the mayor of Paris does have the authority to pass a decree that changes the speed limit of the péripherique.

That said, there have been disagreements on this, and Josseaume noted that it would be possible for the measure to be challenged in court.

READ MORE: The key post-Olympics Paris transport changes you need to know

The transport ministry has insisted that only the government can officially change the speed limit by issuing a decree, as the city’s power does not extend to the nationwide rules of the road.

In November 2023, when the plans were initially being discussed, then-transport minister Clément Beaune promised he would not validate Hidalgo’s speed limit measure.

Meanwhile, Paris’s government-appointed police chief Laurent Nunez has also said he has a role to play. Nunez would need to organise the enforcement of the new limit, via speed cameras.

Hidalgo’s plans were decided “unilaterally” and “do not respect any of the recommendations” of a past report on the Peripherique, Conservative Republicans on the Paris city council wrote on X Monday.

Valérie Pécresse, former Les Républicains presidential candidate and the head of the Ile-de-France region called the plans to bring the speed limit down a ‘denial of democracy’, citing a survey that had found 90 percent of participants opposed to the change.

Pécresse also expressed concerns that the change would lead to an increase in traffic and pollution on other roads in the capital region.

The mayor’s Green party deputy David Belliard said in January that the lower speed limit was “in the common interest”.

A previous reduction, from 80 to 70 kph, had reduced noise pollution for residents living near the road as well as accidents, he said, citing figures from environment agency Ademe.

“Lowering the maximum speed means limiting stop-start driving (and) acceleration and deceleration effects, which makes traffic move more smoothly,” Belliard said.

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