Each debate has its share of unexpected phrases. After the amazing outing on Koh Lanta by Rachida Dati during the organized debate France Info On March 10, 2020, in view of the Municipales de Paris, it was Anne Hidalgo who stood out on Thursday, May 25, 2020, with a shock sentence pronounced on the set of BFMTV. While a debate opposing the three candidates for mayor of Paris, Rachida Dati, Agnès Buzyn and Anne Hidalgo was organized on the news channel continuously, the current mayor of Paris fled with the former minister of Health on a subject which animates these three women politicians as much as the Parisian voters: that of cycle paths. Thus, the candidate La République En Marche, who came as a reinforcement after the departure of Benjamin Griveaux following the affair of her intimate videos, criticized the massive opening of new cycle paths in recent days, which, according to them, would have consequences dramatic.
"I am shocked", begins Agnes Buzyn. “I am very much in favor of cycling, first as a doctor, because it is very good for health. Because it reduces pollution. But I will never be in favor of 100% cycling because I find it discriminatory. I find it discriminatory vis-à-vis the elderly, compared to people who need to transport things, and then I find that the method used by the mayor of Paris to deploy the bike paths is not the right one. In reality, I am very much in favor of the development of cycle paths, but with consultation with local residents, with anticipation of problems and traffic delays that are made and with preparation. ”
“Ask the operating room how they worked, how the consultations were done, with sick children”
The former Minister of Health then proposed to “Give an example” and explains: “Last night, a number of cycle paths were opened in Paris. I think that in the pre-electoral period, the Paris city hall develops cycle paths. There is one that opened on rue de Sèvres and it turns out that it is a bike path which is in front of the Necker-Enfants Malades hospital. This is the hospital where I worked for 20 years, and so I have a lot of colleagues and a lot of friends, who called me today. The bike path appeared that night and transformed a bus lane. Except that the bus route, it was also the route of ambulances, samu, and taxis that took the families for consultation. We couldn't arrive this morning. It was a huge traffic jam, the doctors could not work, the ambulances could not return, the Samu was delayed, the dialysis was done an hour and a half late. No one knew about it, Necker Hospital was completely disorganized. ”
Agnès Buzyn turns to Anne Hidalgo: “Ask the operating room how they worked, how the dialysis, the consultations were done in my hospital, with sick children…” The current mayor of Paris raises her eyebrows and answers with irony: "Are you going to accuse me of murder?" Agnes Buzyn continues: “No, but I find it irresponsible. This is typically the method without anticipation, without consultation … " The mayor of the Capital is justified by evoking the situation of Covid-19 and the fear of certain inhabitants of the city of light to resume public transport: “I know that Madame Buzyn is not at all favorable to cycling, that there is no voluntarism, that the cycle paths obviously require a lot of time, consultation, except that these paths are made in accordance with the Police headquarters, with your former colleague, Minister of the Environment, to meet this need to loosen public transport to meet the risk of contamination. ”
After being interrupted several times by her opponent, Anne Hidalgo continues: “We are going to maintain these cycle paths and I am delighted with this speed, just like many cyclists […] Mrs. Buzyn, when you say 'I am against 100% cycling', do you know what that is mean That means 100% of the cycling streets, not that everyone is going to cycle, of course. ” And to conclude, with a tackle addressed to the former Minister of Health referring to her interview with the World in which she said she saw the coronavirus arrive in France: "I am very surprised that you are not returning these bicycle paths that we are doing in an emergency in the context which is that of preventing, for example, a second wave of this epidemic that you had seen coming." The municipal elections will take place on Sunday June 28.
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