A political figure from the right and from Marseille has just passed away. Jean-Claude Gaudin, former mayor of the Marseille city, died at the age of 84, Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday. “Jean-Claude Gaudin is no more. He was Marseille made man. From his city, his passion, he had the accent, the fever, the fraternity. For her, this child from Mazargues had risen to the highest positions of the Republic that he served, I am thinking of his loved ones and the people of Marseillais”, paid tribute to him on X.
Former senator, deputy and minister of regional planning, the city and integration under Jacques Chirac between 1995 and 1997, Jean-Claude Gaudin was mainly mayor of the Republicans of Marseille, where he was born, for 25 years from 1995 to 2020.
Political tributes
The current various left-wing mayor, Benoît Payan, who did not spare his criticism in the opposition and often claimed to have recovered with his teams a city in a “lamentable” state, paid tribute to him on X: “Jean-Claude Gaudin seemed unsinkable. His departure saddens me greatly. To the one who loved Marseille, its history and its people so much, I want to pay a moving and sincere tribute to this city.
“Jean-Claude Gaudin was like a father to me, everyone knows it but I want to write it. A great statesman, an unforgettable mayor of Marseille in our two thousand year old history, and above all a man with an enormous heart” , reacted for her part on
LR president Eric Ciotti immediately paid tribute to him on X, saluting a man who “loved Marseille more than anything”. “I loved his cheekiness. I admired his courage. I listened to his advice. I am proud to have worked alongside him. My pain is immense, I am losing a friend,” he added.
“Jean-Claude Gaudin was the voice and face of Marseille. He was for decades passionately political, a good-natured and colorful mix of Christian democracy and liberalism,” MoDem president François Bayrou reacted on X.
Former President of the Republic François Hollande praised the man who “was for several decades a figure in French political life. His passion for Marseille was added to that which he nourished for the Republic”.
Last years of mandate criticized
If he embodied the city, his last years in office were criticized for their “immobility” by his adversaries, and even certain allies, and marked by the tragedy of rue d’Aubagne, November 5, 2018. Two unsanitary buildings of a popular neighborhood in the center – including one owned by the City – are collapsing. Eight people died buried.
The shock wave reveals the extent of substandard housing in a city where 40,000 people live in slums. The associations accuse the town hall of having ignored the alerts. In the process, thousands of people were evacuated from homes declared to be in “imminent danger”.
Two years later, while his potential heirs on the right were divided, some having joined Emmanuel Macron, a left-ecologists-civil society coalition won the town hall after municipal elections with twists and turns.