Le Figaro Nice
From the Hôtel de Matignon to the "Joyeux Pétanquiers" boules club in Nice.
From a decisive meeting with Elisabeth Borne on pension reform to the handshakes of her local voters who came to attend her public meeting.
For Éric Ciotti, there is only one step that separates the capital from the fifth largest city in France.
Or rather, an hour of flight, during which the president of the Republicans corrected his speech of wishes to the people of Nice.
He presented them on Wednesday at the Palais de la Méditerranée, in front of a thousand people.
This is Eric Ciotti's intense and contrasting day.
Because at these two meetings, the person concerned says to give the same importance.
Beyond his new national cap as boss of the right, the elected representative of the first constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes swears that he never forgets his city of Nice.
Better, he would think about it day and night, according to his lieutenants.
To the point that he would think more and more seriously of contesting the Town Hall with his best enemy, Christian Estrosi (ex-LR), in 2026.
“He really has the municipal elections in his sights
, confirms a collaborator, who makes no secret of the intentions of its champion.
We are already organizing, because candidate, he will be.
There's nothing left to hold him back
. "
“He always had this ambition
, adds an elected official close to her line.
There, he is more motivated than ever
.
Éric Ciotti, Wednesday, when he arrived on stage at the Palais de la Méditerranée.
Photo L.He.
/ Le Figaro
First cartridges
A calendar which perhaps explains the first cartridges sent just before the truce of the confectioners.
When, on December 23, Éric Ciotti sends a vitriolic missive to Christian Estrosi.
The deputy LR accuses the mayor macronist of a
“budgetary mismanagement”
and unjustified expenses by the occupation of offices in Paris.
What Christian Estrosi will answer the next day.
Before Éric Ciotti unearths the hatchet once again, from the start of the school year in January, to denounce the inaction of the city councilor to dismantle a Roma camp.
Now we will be more aggressive.
We have forty people ready to attack Pearl Harbor.
They are suicide bombers!
A relative of Éric Ciotti, about the town hall of Nice
This public resumption of hostilities coincides with the calendar of the election of Éric Ciotti at the head of the LR.
“When you win an election, it fills
up, underlines an elected official close to him.
He has more weight, assurance, confidence.
He has all the legitimacy to go there.”
And the recent aggressiveness is assumed:
"It's more than a strategy
," adds one of his relatives.
We surf on a dynamic, as during the primary.
Now we will be more aggressive.
We have forty people ready to attack Pearl Harbor.
They are suicide bombers!”
The atmosphere of the "Ciottists" was however more relaxed and sober, Wednesday, when receiving the wishes of the boss of LR and local deputy.
Which appeared on stage with many elected officials, more Azureans than Nissarts, necessarily: the president of the department, Charles-Ange Ginésy;
Jean Leonetti, the current mayor of Antibes;
David Lisnard, who arrived from Cannes almost an hour late;
his colleagues from the National Assembly, Michèle Tabarot, Christelle d'Intorni, Éric Pauget and Alexandra Martin;
or Senator Alexandra Borchio-Fontimp, who was his campaign manager.
Contested demolitions
In the words of Eric Ciotti, no direct mention of Mayor Christian Estrosi.
"Tonight, I don't want to open new quarrels
," he explained, glancing amusedly at the media present.
The bulk of his speech then turned out to be criticism of the city's management, punctuated by a single
"Mr. Executioner
" addressed to the mayor.
The context ?
The demolition of Acropolis, the Palais des Congrès in Nice, for which employees filed an appeal and obtained a reprieve.
“This destruction is a fault, an economic, budgetary and cultural madness
”, lambasted Éric Ciotti.
"
It's a tragedy for hoteliers and restaurateurs in the neighborhood and it's not a garden surrounded by fences that will help them"
.
For its part, the Town Hall brushes aside such consequences.
In the same vein, Éric Ciotti attacked the demolition of the National Theater.
"The Nice theater is now a marquee in a parking lot next to a Roma camp!"
, he said, in reference to the disputed relocation of the facilities.
Regarding the Var plain, he was also saddened not to see any large companies set up,
"seeing concrete blocks rising and buildings collapsing, all in what was a green lung."
This confidence, it obliges me, I have duties with regard to this city faced with a worrying destiny.
Eric Ciotti
The deputy from Nice also denounced
"every day a little more violence"
and
"an avenue Jean-Médecin, which we no longer recognize"
:
"We call that
'
difficult neighborhoods
'
, modestly, but these are areas of no -rights that reach our towns and villages”
.
Against all this, he wants to embody a
"hope"
:
"The decline is not inexorable",
he thinks.
Will this hope bear his name for the coming year, and already for 2026?
“This city, I want to give it everything, equal to what it has given me.
The moment of truth has always resounded in the voting booth.
This confidence, it obliges me, I have duties with regard to this city faced with a worrying destiny.
This assessment and this concern, Éric Ciotti links it to Nice and France.
Between the two, there is only one step for him.
Éric Ciotti confirms his support for raising the retirement age
Éric Ciotti devoted a small part of his wishes to the national situation.
He reaffirmed his support for the extension of the retirement age, reinforced by his morning interview alongside Olivier Marleix and Bruno Retailleau:
“I do not hide supporting the reform and the idea of working more.
I do not want to be caught in the act of inconsistency
, he justified.
You don't have to have attended polytechnic to see that the system is not viable!
.
And even to go in the direction of the Prime Minister concerning the strike planned for Thursday January 19:
"I do not believe that the usual blockers are a good answer for France"
, underlined the boss of the LR in front of a full room. . retirees.