Michèle Rubirola (; born 28 July 1956) is a French politician who served as Mayor of Marseille from 4 July to 15 December 2020. A member 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), she succeeded

Jean-Claude Gaudin Jean-Claude Gaudin (; 8 October 1939 – 20 May 2024) was a French politician for The Republicans. He served as the Mayor of Marseille from 1995 to 2020. Gaudin was a member of the National Assembly of France from Bouches-du-Rhône from 1978 ...

, who chose not to run for reelection to a fifth term in office and instead endorsed his long-term deputy

Martine Vassal Martine Vassal (; née Gilles, 29 March 1962) is a French politician who has presided over the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis since 2018. A member of The Republicans (LR), she succeeded Jean-Claude Gaudin in office, who resigned to focus on ...

, who lost the mayorship race following the

municipal election In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct var ...

in June 2020. Rubirola became the first female Mayor of Marseille. On 15 December 2020, she announced her resignation from the mayorship for health reasons. She was succeeded by First Deputy Mayor

Benoît Payan Benoît Payan (; born 31 January 1978) is a French politician who has served as Mayor of Marseille since 2020. He was a member of the Socialist Party (PS) until 2020. Early life Payan was born and raised in the Pont-de-Vivaux neighbourhood in ...

of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

, whom she succeeded as First Deputy Mayor on 21 December 2021. Rubirola previously held a seat in the

Departmental Council of Bouches-du-Rhône The Departmental Council of Bouches-du-Rhône (; ), sometimes abbreviated "CD 13" (in reference to Bouches-du-Rhône's Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, INSEE and postal number), is the Departmental council (France), ...

from 2015 to 2021, elected in the canton of Marseille-1 alongside Payan. Her grandparents came from

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

and

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. She is a physician by occupation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubirola, Michele 1956 births Living people French people of Italian descent French people of Spanish descent 21st-century French women politicians Mayors of Marseille Aix-Marseille University alumni The Greens (France) politicians Europe Ecology – The Greens politicians 20th-century French physicians 20th-century French women Women mayors of places in France Physicians from Marseille Departmental councillors (France) French city councillors