“The time has come to hand over”: Martine Aubry, the emblematic socialist mayor of Lille since 2001 and former minister who brought the 35-hour reform, announced on Thursday March 6 his resignation “mid-March”, one year from the next municipal elections.
During a press conference where she first boasted her record at the head of the city, the 74 -year -old elected official, invited the municipal council to elect her first assistant, Arnaud Deslandes, 42, who stood alongside her.
“I have been elected in Lille for 30 years, I have been mayor for 24 years, I still have energy and ideas, but the time has come to pass the hand has a new generation,” she said, wiping a few tears, while ensuring that she is “very serene”.
Not a political retirement
Believing that PS senator Audrey Linkenheld, a time expected as a candidate, and the deputy PS Roger Vicot, a candidate declared at the town hall, had their role to play at the national level, she judged that Arnaud Deslandes, her former chief of staff, has “the necessary vision to become mayor of Lille”.
Martine Aubry clarified to leave all her political functions. “I do not take my political retirement, I intend to occupy my share (…) and participate in the renewal of leftist ideas,” she said, while specifying not having “no personal ambition” for a position.