She is the first woman to lead the famous Basque seaside resort. The rise in real estate prices, the future of the Hôtel du Palais, the rise of tourism, but also the future of the Republicans or the place of women in politics, Maïder Arostéguy is the guest of Sunday in Policy.
She fixed an anomaly. In 2020, Maïder Arostéguy became the first female mayor of Biarritz. “A great joy, a pride and an immense responsibility”, she says.
There is no lack of files in this town of 26,400 inhabitants where the population is constantly increasing, where the Basque coast is attracting more and more people.
Biarritz is thus the third town in France with more than two thousand inhabitants where life is good according to a recent annual ranking.
But how to reconcile the rise of tourism with the daily life of permanent residents in a municipality where the price of real estate is soaring to exceed ten thousand euros per square meter on certain properties?
Dormitory town for some, in full revival for others, the former fishing village, favorite vacation spot of Napoleon III and his wife Eugénie, is in full mutation.
Since the beginning of his mandate, Maïder Arostéguy has also kept an eye on one of the emblems of the city, the Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque.
This club is part of our DNA.
Maïder Arostéguy, mayor of BiarritzSunday in politics
His relations, against the background of the Aguilera stadium real estate project, are polar with the current leaders, in particular the president of the club Jean-Baptiste Aldigé. “Today, relations are epistolary and administrative.”
The mayor of Biarritz confides that she no longer has a relationship with him, at a time when the names of the owners of the Biarritz club on the side of Grenoble and Agen are circulating. Others are interested, but no name given in public at this time.
Another major issue is the future of the Hôtel du Palais, which is heavily in deficit. A situation that weighs on the finances of the city, majority shareholder of the mixed economy company. The summer of 2023 will be decisive for the palace.
Maïder Arostéguy also has firm convictions on pensions and the dissensions within his Les Républicains party: “if I were a deputy, I would not have voted for the pension reform”.
As for her future in Biarritz, she does not elude the subject just over three years from the municipal elections.
Yes, I will most certainly be a candidate in 2026.
Maïder Arostéguy, mayor of BiarritzSunday in politics
The mayor of Biarritz also expressed her emotion after the death of Agnès Lassalle, the Spanish teacher killed in her class in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. “My children went to school there for nine years. Everyone is in shock.”
