Éric Piolle

Éric Piolle
Éric Piolle in 2013
Mayor of Grenoble
Assumed office
4 April 2014
Preceded byMichel Destot
Personal details
Born (1973-01-06) 6 January 1973 (age 51)
Pau, France
Political partyEurope Ecology – The Greens

Éric Piolle (French pronunciation: [eʁik pjɔl]; born 6 January 1973) is a French politician of Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV) who has been serving as mayor of Grenoble since 2014.[1] . He was Regional Councillor of Rhône-Alpes from March 2010 to April 2014.

Education and business career

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Piolle was born in Pau, France where he attended Lycée Louis-Barthou. After graduating, he went to the Grenoble Institute of Technology to study engineering.

He joined the Hewlett-Packard Company in 2001, and became a senior manager at the Grenoble site.[2] In February 2011, he was fired for refusing to set up a relocation plan.[3]

He co-founded the company Raise Partners, a company specializing in financial risk management.[4]

Political career

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Early beginnings

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In 1997, at 24, Piolle was a parliamentary candidate for the eighth district of Isère as a Miscellaneous left, he won 1.35% of the votes.[5] In 2002 he was a substitute candidate during the legislative elections for the first district of Isère.

In March 2010, Piolle was elected as a regional councilor of Isère, which is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region, as a member of Europe Ecology.[6]

In June 2012, Piolle was a parliamentary candidate for the first district of Isère as a member of EELV, he won 7.7% of votes.[7]

Mayor of Grenoble

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In 2014, Piolle became a candidate for mayor of Grenoble during the municipal elections, his motto being "Grenoble, Une Ville pour Tous" (Grenoble, A City for All).[8] He was the leading candidate throughout the race, gathering support from environmentalists, EELV, the Left Party, The Alternatives, the Anticapitalist Left, and two local associations, ADES and the Citizen Network.[9][10] He was elected during a city council session on April 4, 2014, succeeding Michel Destot (PS) as mayor of Grenoble. He received 50 votes out of the 59 councilors.[11] After this election Grenoble becomes the first French city with more than 100 000 inhabitants to elect an EELV municipal government.[12]

After winning the election, Piolle declined to run for president of Grenoble-Alpes Métropole, and resigned from his position as a regional councilor of Rhône-Alpes.[13]

In the French presidential election of 2017, Piolle called on voters to support Jean-Luc Mélenchon.[14]

Following a proposal by Piolle, the municipal council of Grenoble voted in favour of allowing the use of body-covering "burkini" bathing suits for women in municipal pools in May 2022, sparking protest from conservative and far-right politicians. In response, Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin filed an objection against the burkini permit. Shortly after, a French administrative court suspended the city of Grenoble's decision.[15]

References

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  1. ^ "Eric Piolle, Maire de Grenoble". Grenoble.fr (in French). Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  2. ^ "HP : les faits d'armes du manager Piolle". Place Gre'net (in French). July 1, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  3. ^ Desmoulières, Raphaëlle Besse (March 31, 2014). "A Grenoble, l'écologiste Eric Piolle arrache la ville au PS". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  4. ^ "Raise Partner : Eric Piolle attaqué par l'opposition". Place Gre'net (in French). July 8, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  5. ^ "Résultats des élections législatives de 1997". Assemblée nationale (in French). Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  6. ^ "Résultats des élections régionales 2010". Ministère de l'Intérieur (in French). March 21, 2010. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  7. ^ "Résultats des élections législatives 2012". Ministère de l'Intérieur (in French). Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  8. ^ "Une ville pour tous au programme d'e. Piolle". Place Gre'net (in French). February 22, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  9. ^ "Résultats municipales : les écolos gagnent à Grenoble". Le Figaro (in French). March 30, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  10. ^ Lagrange, Catherine (March 28, 2012). "Municipales 2014, second tour - Les écologistes prennent Grenoble". Le Point (in French). Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  11. ^ "L'écologiste Éric Piolle élu maire de Grenoble". Le Figaro (in French). April 4, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  12. ^ Caro 01/04/2014 11:21 (2014-03-31). "Raz de marée écologiste à Grenoble". Place Gre'net (in French). Retrieved 2020-05-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Blanchard, Lucie (April 17, 2014). "Piolle (EE-LV) remplacé par Grasset (GE) à la région". Lyon Capitale (in French). Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  14. ^ Alain Beuve-Méry (14 April 2017). "Eric Piolle : " Je voterai Mélenchon pour encourager le rassemblement de la gauche "". Le Monde. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  15. ^ Geert De Clercq (25 May 2022), French court scraps rule allowing burkinis in Grenoble swimming pools Reuters.