What politicians in Paris might learn from the area around it | Europe
Only 65km separate La Chapelle-en-Vexin from the cobbled boulevards of the French capital. Both belong to the greater Paris region, Île-de-France. Yet daily concerns could not be more different.express line does not reach this far. Fully 85% of residents drive to work. Villagers worry about pollution. A big local issue is an effort to get a bypass built to divert heavy traffic from driving through the centre. But roads sustain daily life. Shopping is done by car at a hypermarket.
The disconnect between Paris and the outer reaches of its region has political implications. One is that Ms Hidalgo, who is seen as an anti-car crusader and could run for the French presidency next year, may find it hard to appeal far beyond the. The Paris ring-road, built half a century ago, has turned into a gigantic concrete symbol of the capital’s division from its suburbs.