The Nouveau-Centre deputy, assistant mayor in charge of tourism (he is the president of the Nice Tourism Office) and international relations is a loyal ally of Christian Estrosi and Eric Ciotti on a local level (“we have relationships of trust, respect and they are always attentive to my contributions”) and part of the municipal power system given his responsibilities, shared with us some considerations of which we report a summary.
National Politics
The Centre, which claims the historical legacy of the UDF, is a large political family. We are part of the presidential majority but we are not the UMP.
We must maintain our ability to develop a project and present it to our UMP partner to weigh more heavily in the debate and choices.
Having or not having a centrist candidate for the first round of the presidential election is a secondary question compared to the primary objective of bringing together all the components that align with our political sensibility. For 2012, the real challenge is to present a project for France to support Nicolas Sarkozy’s candidacy.
François Bayrou is against everyone, majority and opposition, I find his position confusing and without an outcome.
2011 Cantonal Elections
We want the debate to remain local; these elections should not judge national policy but choose the best candidates to represent the district assembly’s electorate in the city neighborhoods and small communes in rural areas.
In Nice, we have chosen to present ourselves under the label ‘Nice Ensemble’ to reinforce this concept. We have a candidate, in common with the UMP, in the 5th canton, Catherine Moreau, a business leader and neighborhood committee president who will try to win the seat currently held by Patrick Mottard.
Nice in 2011
This will be the year of Nice-Métropole, which will inherit responsibilities currently assigned to the General Council and the Regional Council. With this new status, Nice will no longer be under the administrative oversight of Marseille, which for the people of Nice is the fulfillment of a dream!
Let us not forget that Nice is, along with Paris, one of the tourist capitals of France, and our city is known worldwide.
I consider this event as important as the annexation of Nice to France and, in more recent times, the foundation of our University, which allowed us to become independent from that of Marseille-Aix.
2011 will also be the year of the first works to execute the projects that are part of Christian Estrosi’s team’s program, which in past years have been subject to feasibility studies: extension of line 1 to the Pasteur Hospital and the neighborhood of the same name; Gare du Sud; Grand Stadium, green framework after the closure and relocation of the Bus Station to another site; Îlot de St-Pierre at the Ariane with the renewal of the heart of this neighborhood.
Citizens will thus be able to appreciate the dynamism of the municipal team and understand the future improvement of their quality of life.
Parliamentary Reserve
135,000 euros in grants allocated primarily to 3 projects presented by municipalities:
The commune of Saint-André for the renovation of the stadium lawn;
The commune of Falicon for the creation of a fitness garden;
The commune of La Trinité for a video surveillance project.
Additionally, 70 associations will benefit from small grants, often very valuable for their activities.
