Eiffel Tower: Ariel Weil evokes “zeal” after the controversy over the sidelining of employees

The day after a day of strike which kept the Eiffel Tower closed, its management seems to be trying to understand how a requirement aimed at limiting interactions with women could have been transformed into instructions for female employees. On Saturday, during the visit of a Hindu religious delegation from the traditionalist movement BAPS (Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha), female staff at the Eiffel Tower and service companies were invited to step aside or be replaced by men. A decision which provoked the anger of staff and the indignation of the political class.

Guest of Franceinfo this Tuesday morning, Ariel Weil, president of the Eiffel Tower Operating Company (SETE) and socialist mayor of Paris Center, assures that he never gave the green light. “No, of course,” he replied when asked if he had personally agreed to this demand. “I was not aware and everything indicates that the director general was not aware either regarding the visit of the dignitary itself. (...) It’s totally shocking and unacceptable, we are trying to reconstruct what happened but obviously there was zeal.”

“A little zealous executives”

According to Ariel Weil, the delegation's request would have been transmitted within the operating company before being implemented by certain managers. “There was a transmission of the requests that were made by the delegation and somewhat zealous operating executives would have taken very seriously to apply these directives without the judgment which was to consider that it was obviously inappropriate.”

The socialist mayor of Paris Center insists on the fact that formal visits are usual at the monument, without however leading to differential treatment between employees. “But obviously, the protocol never provides for there to be a distinction and a modification of the way in which we receive visitors, and in particular a distinction between agents.”

And to set a red line: “What has been reported to us is totally unacceptable, there can never be, whatever the considerations, and even more so cultural, any changes to the reception process.” The results of the internal investigation are expected “in the coming days”. The Eiffel Tower should reopen this Tuesday morning.

BAPS apologizes

Monday evening, the BAPS of Paris reacted to X. “We understand the concerns expressed and take them very seriously. Given the size of our delegation, the visit was organized in coordination with the Eiffel Tower teams, at the start of usual opening hours, in order to limit as much as possible any inconvenience for other visitors.

The movement assures that “to [its] knowledge, at no time has access to the Eiffel Tower been refused to anyone”, while presenting its “sincere apologies to any person who may have been injured or inconvenienced by this situation”.