Economist.com Cities Guide: Paris Briefing - September 2005

News this month

Fire in Paris

A fire ripped through a seven-storey block of flats in Paris’s 13th arrondissement on August 26th, killing 14 children and three adults, all of them African immigrants. Police are investigating the cause of the blaze, which took more than 200 firefighters over 90 minutes to bring under control. The state-owned building, run by Emmaus, a humanitarian organisation, and managed by France Euro Habitat, a private company, housed about 100 children and 30 adults from West African countries.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister, blamed the fire’s high death toll on overcrowding, and called for an inquiry into similar housing facilities in the capital. France receives more asylum claims than any other country in the world, and struggles to accommodate the 9,000 to 10,000 immigrants awaiting papers in Paris. According to an Interior Ministry official, about a third of the 1,000 temporary housing facilities in the city may be unsafe. The fire comes just four months after a similar blaze killed 24 immigrants in a Paris hotel.

Whither the Socialists?

The rift within the opposition Socialist Party has widened since leaders split over whether to support the European Union constitutional treaty in a referendum in May. The party’s centrist leader, François Hollande, who backed the Yes campaign in the referendum, has been savaged by the party’s anti-constitution faction, led by a former prime minister, Laurent Fabius. The party is meeting in November, and there is open talk of a formal split.

The battle between Mr Hollande and Mr Fabius will probably determine the direction of the party ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2007. Mr Fabius’s crew is aiming to move the party leftward, while Mr Hollande has charted a more moderate course. A vote on the party’s leadership at the conference may also determine who represents the Socialists in the presidential race. Meanwhile, the ruling UMP is revelling in the Socialists’ woes. “The perfect counter-example not to follow is what is happening in the Socialist party, which is tearing itself apart, settling accounts and quarrelling in front of the cameras,” said the head of the UMP, Nicolas Sarkozy.

The honeymoon’s over

As the 100-day honeymoon period of the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, comes to an end, attention centres on whether his non-aggression pact with the interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, will last. Mr Sarkozy dominated the headlines during the summer, touring the country and reminding the party faithful of his presidential ambitions. It was Mr de Villepin, however, who gained in the polls, increasing his popularity by an average of ten points since his appointment on May 31st.

But a number of tricky problems await Mr de Villepin as he returns from summer holiday. High oil prices, rising unemployment and an increasing budget deficit could all cut into the prime minister’s enhanced standing. Widespread strikes are also a possibility when French workers return to their jobs in September. Indeed, the next 100 days may show whether Mr de Villepin has what it takes to mount a credible challenge to Mr Sarkozy for the UMP’s presidential nomination in 2007.

Road sale

The government’s plan to sell its stake in the country’s three motorway operators seems to have got off to a successful start—18 parties made offers by the August 22nd deadline. But opponents of the sale immediately claimed that the high number of potential bidders proves that the price tag for the assets—around €10 billion-14 billion—is too low. One of the sale’s leading critics, UDF party leader Francois Bayrou, has argued that future toll road earnings would far outweigh the short-term benefit from the sale. Paris, however, needs the cash now to help cut France's public debt below the eurozone target of 3% of gross domestic product.

This is not the first time a cash-strapped government has sought to privatise the country’s highway managers. In 2003 the then prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, planned a similar sale, but backed off after opposition from the transport ministry and unions. Back then it was Mr Raffarin's transport minister, Gilles de Robien, who pointed out that although the sale could raise €10 billion, toll revenues would likely be worth close to €40 billion over the next 30 years.

In the air

The SNCF has announced that it will ban smoking on all trains by the end of the year. The switch to fully non-smoking cars will cost €6m-10m and will be introduced in stages throughout the autumn and winter. The process will involve scrubbing down 3,000 smoking carriages, treating persistent smells, removing ashtrays and changing smoking signs. “Travellers are ready for it, their habits have changed,” said the SNCF boss, Guillaume Pepy. Backing him up are statistics showing that the number of smokers on French trains has declined by 20% over the past five years.

On August 26th, a new Petit Futé guide was published called “Paris Non-Fumeur” (in French only), which offers places to go to avoid second-hand smoke. The guide also provides stickers to establishments that are totally non-smoking. Still, one out of two 18-year-old Parisians smokes.

Hotel hunting

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a Saudi billionaire, and Jumeirah International, owned by the Al Maktoum royal family in Dubai, are reportedly keen on buying the Hotel de Crillon from an American private equity firm, Starwood Capital. If the acquisition takes place, a major renovation may be in store for the Crillon, one of Paris's leading luxury hotels. After buying the historic George V in 1997, Prince Alwaleed spent over $125m to refurbish and redesign the hotel. The investment paid off, as the George V was rated the world's best “International City Hotel” in Andrew Harper's “Hideaway Report” for a fourth consecutive year in 2004.

Catch if you can

September 2005

Big Bang: Destruction and Creation in 20th Century Art

Until February 27th 2006

Hard contrasts abound in this high-minded show. Salvador Dali's “The Old Age of William Tell” hangs alongside Picasso's “La Pisseuse”, while Otto Dix's Portrait of the journalist Sylvia von Hardek—a monocled chain-smoker in a checked red dress—is near Jana Sterbak's “Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic”, which features a dress made of putrid red meat. The exhibition is built around eight main themes, including “Sex”, “War”, and “Re-enchantment”, which are then divided into 40 more sub-sections.

The show's six curators have a welcome sense of humour. The “Subversion” section has a section entitled “Anti-Museum”, where visitors can watch Andrea Fraser's video parody of a guided tour of a fine arts museum. There is also some space for children—the “Childhood” section includes a screening of a Laurel and Hardy film called “Big Business”. There is so much on show that the pieces in the last “Pathos/Death” section—including Andy Warhol's “Electric Chair”—are blunted by over-stimulation.

Pompidou Centre (Permanent Collection, 5th floor), 19 rue Beaubourg, 4th arrondissement. Tel: + 33 (0) 1 44.78.12.33. Métro: Rambuteau, Hôtel-de-Ville, Châtelet-Les-Halles. Open: Wed-Mon, 11am-9pm. Entry: €7. For more information, visit the museum's website.

More from the Paris cultural calendar