A few days ago, we discussed the passage through Nice of the UMP caravan, which is touring French beaches this summer to promote the party as well as Nicolas Sarkozy. However, the main goal of the caravan is primarily to garner as many memberships as possible, with a big push using flip-flops and beach towels.
Deputy Rudy Salles did not view this very favorably, not so much because the UMP caravan bothered him, but because of the presence of the Mayor of Nice, Jacques Peyrat, during the Nice stopover, which provoked a reaction from the PACA regional councilor. Indeed, according to the article that Rudy Salles published on his blog, the Mayor of Nice supposedly forced his way in and demanded his presence at an event occurring in “his city.”
Reflecting on his past as the departmental president of the National Front, a fellow traveler of Jean-Marie Le Pen, and on the acclamation of Waffen SS Schonhuber at Acropolis, the Deputy from Azur states in his text that the city’s first magistrate even prohibited his municipal team from attending the evening event at the Théâtre de Verdure, which gathered UMP ministers and militants.
This outright attack undoubtedly marks the start of a new, crucial season for national and Nice politics, punctuated by major legislative meetings to choose a new President as well as a new Mayor. At a time when few potential candidates have officially declared themselves, or have been chosen, from the ranks of the major Nice parties, Rudy Salles will be the standard-bearer of his political current even though no certainty is achieved for the candidacy of Jacques Peyrat, much less for the endorsement of the party to which he is attached today.
