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 the 10th arrondissement of Marseille, the son of a carpenter and civil servant. During his studies to become a

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

, he joined the Young Socialist Movement.

Career

Payan served as an adviser to Michel Vauzelle when he was President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, then to Marie-Arlette Carlotti when she served in government (2012–2014). Elected a municipal councillor in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

for the 3rd sector ( 4th and 5th arrondissements), Payan became leader of the Socialist group in the municipal council in 2016, then the main opposition group to Mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin's conservative administration. In

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, he was also elected to the Departmental Council of Bouches-du-Rhône for the canton of Marseille-1 alongside Michèle Rubirola, a position he was reelected to in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. In July 2019, Payan was one of the founders of ''Printemps marseillais'' ("Marseille Spring"), a broad left-wing electoral alliance seeking to end Gaudin's quarter-century in office in the 2020 election. He criticised the candidacy of Socialist dissenter Samia Ghali, believing it could divide the vote and hand victory to the right by default. Payan's coalition won the election in July, installing

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 ...

member Michèle Rubirola as Marseille's first woman and Green mayor. Payan was reelected a municipal councillor, this time for the 2nd sector ( 2nd and 3rd arrondissements). Rubirola unexpectedly resigned on 15 December 2020, citing health reasons, transferring roles with Payan, her first deputy. On 21 December he was officially voted into office, with support from Ghali's eight councillors and without competition from the right.

Policies

Payan supports the city selling the Stade Vélodrome football stadium, but only to its tenants,

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

. He has criticised the environmental impact of

cruise liners Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

on Marseille. While in opposition, Payan collected 10,000 signatures against a

public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sectors, private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Revie ...

plan to spend €1 billion demolishing and rebuilding over 30 primary schools. In July 2024, Payan made headlines for instructing Olympique de Marseille president Pablo Longoria not to sign Mason Greenwood, an English player who had been charged but not convicted of crimes of violence against women. Despite this, the club went on to sign Greenwood later that month.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Payan, Benoit 1978 births Living people 21st-century mayors of places in France French city councillors Politicians from Marseille Mayors of Marseille Departmental councillors (France) Socialist Party (France) politicians