SUCCESSIONS AND INHERITANCE (4/5) – Far from being confined to local issues, the history of municipal elections is marked by transitions between established mayors and their successors, sometimes with episodes where young leaders surprise everyone. Since the mid-1990s, the emblematic mayor of Lille is preparing for his succession and is eyeing one of the new hopes of the PS.
The scene is symbolic, almost emotional. On March 25, 2001, a week after the municipal elections, the socialist mayor of Lille, Pierre Mauroy, hangs up his gloves after twenty-eight years at the helm of the northern city. For the occasion, the former Prime Minister of François Mitterrand (1981-1984) hands over the tricolor sash to his successor, Martine Aubry, 22 years his junior, whom he had chosen as his first deputy six years earlier. The culmination of a carefully prepared transition since 1995. Not surprising: succeeding such a figure in French socialism is no small feat. “It’s a responsibility, a great honor,” acknowledges the new mayor of the capital of Flanders, saying she is “proud” and “moved,” on the set of France 3 Nord-Pas-de-Calais Picardie, in front of the images of the handover.
If this passing of the torch was not surprising in 2001, given how long the minds had been prepared in Lille, Pierre Mauroy’s choice to make Martine…
