Anne Hidalgo

In the late 1950s, he married a seamstress named Maria; they had two daughters, Ana (Anne) and María (Marie).

Ana María "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu (, ; born 19 June 1959) is a Spanish-born French politician who has served as Mayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office.

She is a member of the Socialist Party.

However, due to the social and economic problems in Spain resulting from the implementation of the Stabilization Plan, Hidalgo's parents migrated to France in 1961, this time as economic immigrants.

They settled in Lyon with their two daughters.

Hidalgo grew up in Vaise, the 9th arrondissement of Lyon, speaking Spanish with her parents and French with her sister.

Her parents are now back in Spain while her elder sister, Marie, manages a company in Los Angeles.

Hidalgo and her parents were naturalised French when she was fourteen.

In 1982, Hidalgo entered the national contest for the Inspection du travail (Labour Inspectorate), ranking fifth.

She obtained her first inspector assignment in Chevilly-Larue in 1984 at the age of 24, before receiving a post in the 15th arrondissement of Paris where she lived, a few months later.

In 1991, Hidalgo was appointed director of the National Institute of Labour.

In 1993, she joined the vocational training delegation at the Ministry of Labour and then obtained a mission at the International Labour Office in Geneva from 1995 to 1996.

She then worked for one year as a project manager for the Director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Labour.

From 1996 to 1997, she was an officer at the Human Resources Directorate of Compagnie Générale des Eaux (then Vivendi and Vivendi Universal).

Between 1997 and 2002, Hidalgo worked as a staffer in three ministerial offices within the government of Lionel Jospin: first in the office of Martine Aubry at the Ministry of Employment and Solidarity as technical advisor; then with Nicole Péry, Secretary of State for Women's Rights and Vocational Training, from 1998 to 2000, as technical advisor then consultant to the firm, participating, in particular, in the drafting of laws on parity and professional equality between women and men; and from November 2000 to May 2002, as a technical adviser and then mission manager, responsible for social relations and the status of civil servants, in the office of Marylise Lebranchu, Minister of Justice.

Hidalgo served as First Deputy Mayor of Paris under Mayor Bertrand Delanoë (2001–2014), having held the title of Councillor of Paris since the 2001 municipal election.

In the 2001 municipal elections, she led the list of the Socialist Party (PS) in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, which won 26.5% of votes in the first round; at the second round it then placed behind the list gathered around Édouard Balladur and Mayor René Galy-Dejean.

She joined the Council of Paris and was appointed First Deputy Mayor of Paris.

In June 2002, she was a candidate in the legislative election in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, winning 29.6% of votes in the first round, but Balladur was elected with 54.2% of the vote.

In 2003, she regained Spanish nationality and since then has dual French–Spanish citizenship.

Hidalgo graduated with a master's degree in social law at Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 before completing a Master of Advanced Studies (DEA) in social and trade unionism at Paris West University Nanterre La Défense.

Hidalgo retired from the civil service on 1 July 2011, aged 52.

Hidalgo said on 4 April 2013, on RMC: "I earn 5,000 euros net per month for my mandates".

According to the website Atlantico, she received, for all her revenues, around 8,200 euros net per month.

She was elected to the mayoralty in 2014 after Delanoë announced he would not seek a third term.

Her first term as Mayor of Paris was marked by the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting and November 2015 Paris attacks, including the Bataclan theatre massacre which she witnessed the aftermath of, first-hand.

First Deputy Mayor Bruno Julliard resigned in 2018, criticising Hidalgo's style of governance.

In April 2019 she oversaw the disaster recovery efforts for the Notre-Dame de Paris fire.

While the COVID-19 pandemic led to a record low voter turnout, she was reelected although failed to secure an absolute majority of the vote.

During her second term as Mayor of Paris, Hidalgo has overseen the city's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing measures such as nightly curfews, closure of non-essential shops and the introduction of 50 km of pop-up cycle lanes known as "coronapistes" to ease pressure on public transport.

By January 2021, a number of Hidalgo's policies have gained international attention, such as her proposal to remove over half of Paris's car parking spaces and turn the Champs-Élysées into a "fantastic garden".

On 12 September 2021, Hidalgo announced her candidacy in the 2022 presidential election, despite her pledge in 2020 to serve a full second term as Mayor of Paris.

She came tenth out of twelve candidates, with 1.75% of the vote, the lowest result for a Socialist candidate in a French presidential election in history.

Hidalgo was born in San Fernando, province of Cádiz, Spain.

Her paternal grandfather was a Spanish Socialist who became a refugee in France after the end of the Spanish Civil War along with his wife and his four children.

However, her grandparents returned to Spain some time later.

Her grandmother died on the return trip, whereas her grandfather was sentenced to death, although this sentence was eventually commuted to a life sentence.

Hidalgo's father, Antonio Hidalgo (born in Antequera), was raised by his maternal grandparents.

He was an electrician.

Her popularity declined following several instances of alleged mismanagement, to the point that polls showed a majority of voters did not want her to win a second term in 2020.