Éric Piolle (; born 6 January 1973) is a French politician of

Europe Ecology – The Greens The Ecologists – Europe Ecology The Greens (), commonly known as The Ecologists (, LE) and formerly as Europe Ecology The Greens ( , EELV ) until 2023, is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of th ...

(EELV) who has been serving as mayor of

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

since 2014. . He was Regional Councillor of

Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône a ...

from March 2010 to April 2014.

Education and business career

Piolle was born in Pau, France where he attended Lycée Louis-Barthou. After graduating, he went to the

Grenoble Institute of Technology The Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP) (''Institut polytechnique de Grenoble'' , ''Groupe Grenoble INP'' and before INPG) is a French technological university system consisting of eight engineering and management schools. Grenoble I ...

to study engineering. He joined the

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

Company in 2001, and became a senior manager at the Grenoble site. In February 2011, he was fired for refusing to set up a relocation plan. He co-founded the company Raise Partners, a company specializing in

financial risk management Financial risk management is the practice of protecting Value (economics), economic value in a business, firm by managing exposure to financial risk - principally credit risk and market risk, with more specific variants as listed aside - as well ...

Political career

Early beginnings

In 1997, at 24, Piolle was a parliamentary candidate for the eighth district of

Isère Isère ( , ; ; , ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the southeastern French Regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère (river), Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.

as a Miscellaneous left, he won 1.35% of the votes. 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

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

, as a member of Europe Ecology. 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.

Mayor of Grenoble

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). He was the leading candidate throughout the race, gathering support from environmentalists, EELV, the Left Party, The Alternatives, the

Anticapitalist Left Anticapitalistas (, , ), known as Izquierda Anticapitalista (Anti-Capitalist Left, IA) until January 2015 and as Espacio Alternativo (Alternative Space, EA) from 1995 to November 2008, is a socialist political organisation that works as a confe ...

, and two local associations, ADES and the Citizen Network. 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. After this election

becomes the first French city with more than 100 000 inhabitants to elect an EELV municipal government. After winning the election, Piolle declined to run for president of

Grenoble-Alpes Métropole Grenoble-Alpes Métropole () is the ''métropole'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Grenoble. It is located in the Isère department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, eastern France. It was created in January 2015, replaci ...

, and resigned from his position as a regional councilor of

. In the French presidential election of 2017, Piolle called on voters to support

Jean-Luc Mélenchon Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who has been the ''de facto'' leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) since it was established in 2016. He was the Deputy (France), deputy in the National Assembly ( ...

. 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 An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Gérald Darmanin Gérald Moussa Jean Darmanin (; born 11 October 1982) is a French politician serving as Minister of Justice (France), Minister of Justice in the Bayrou government. He previously served as Minister of the Interior (France), Minister of the Inter ...

filed an objection against the burkini permit. Shortly after, a French administrative court suspended the city of Grenoble's decision.Geert De Clercq (25 May 2022)
French court scraps rule allowing burkinis in Grenoble swimming pools
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piolle, Eric Mayors of Grenoble 1973 births Living people Europe Ecology – The Greens politicians Grenoble Institute of Technology alumni 21st-century French engineers 21st-century French scientists People from Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques