Paris abandons controversial construction at the foot of the Eiffel Tower

Paris City Hall announced Sunday that it has abandoned planned construction at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in its disputed plan to develop the areas surrounding the monument, which attracts 20 million visitors each year.

Aiming to cover the areas around the “Iron Lady”, the OnE project by the capital’s socialist mayor, Ann Hidalgo, aims to provoke criticism from the municipal opposition and environmentalists.

He planned to cut down about twenty trees, some of them centenarians, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in order to build a luggage storage for customers and buildings for employees.

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The municipality abandoned it in May after protests from several associations and personalities.

So I also decided to abandon four planned installations. “I am announcing that we are completely and simply canceling any construction under the tower, while maintaining the landscaping project,” First Vice Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told the Sunday newspaper (JDD).

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“The overall philosophy remains the same,” he insisted. “We will implement 95% of the OnE project, that is, a continuity of the landscape from Trocadéro to Champ-de-Mars, faithful to the original design, respecting heritage, with fewer cars and more nature.” .

“Very good news,” said Christine Nedelek, from France, from the Nature Environment (FNE), “but the permits (for construction) are still valid (…) we are waiting for the permits to be withdrawn.”

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“We’re feeling good right now, but we’re staying vigil,” added Thomas Braille, of the National Tree Monitoring Group (GNSA).