The Nice Communist Party rejoices over its first small victories in its Saint-Roch headquarters

The Federation of the French Communist Party (PCF) in the Alpes-Maritimes is reopening its historic office to the public and drawing up a positive initial assessment of its return to local government institutions, three months after the municipal elections.

Back on the municipal council after twelve years of ostracism, the PCF Federation 06 reopened, on Saturday, June 6, its historic Nice office located at 2 Place Saint-Roch. The PCF office will fully reopen to the public from Wednesday, June 17. Communist opposition elected official Julien Picot will be present there every Wednesday and Saturday in order to “reconnect directly with the people of Nice and hear their needs.”

Julien Picot: “Better represent and meet citizens’ needs”

In line with an approach that puts people of Nice at the center, the office aims to be a new focal point for neighborhood residents. Conceived as a genuine transmission belt for citizen democracy, it will represent a guarantee of strong commitment and proximity in service of the citizen. Far from being a “storefront”, the office should allow “the voice of the people” to be heard according to Julien Picot.

In connection with this reopening, the newly elected communist official aims to become a relay for citizen voice to local government bodies, in order to “better represent and meet citizens’ needs”. His action should materialize through handling several cases within the office: “we will take on cases to carry them forward and defend them. Over there [at the town hall, editor’s note], cases will remain piled up” he continues.

Concretely, the venue will serve the purpose of “defending local public services”, by promoting for example access to childcare facilities or by opposing school class closures, as is the case in several schools in the neighborhood.

The exchanges and information gathered within the office should thus feed the work and interventions of the opposition, particularly within the municipal council. In addition to “bringing needs to light”, the elected official intends to share what is discussed in municipal council in order to contribute to a more direct form of democracy.

The historic presence of the PCF in Saint-Roch

The presence of the PCF 06 office has symbolic significance in this Nice neighborhood, which is among the most populated in the city. The choice to reopen Saint-Roch is no accident: the neighborhood was long a genuine communist stronghold, and is today “left in the hands of Eric Ciotti, who made it his campaign headquarters. We want to resume our presence in this neighborhood”, announces Julien Picot.

The PCF Federation 06 has drawn up a positive initial assessment after only three months in office. In a press release dated June 15, the Federation takes pride in several “advances obtained within local institutions” since the election of Julien Picot as well as three other left-wing coalition members to the municipal council in March 2026.

First, “the election to the presidency of the Finance Commission of the City of Nice and the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolitan Area”, of Julien Picot, director of public finances for the municipality of Drap for over fifteen years. One of the first decisions that pleased both the party and its elected official: “I know all this inside out”, he confides.

Others followed. Such as a measure validating the project of a statue in tribute to Nice communist resister Max Barel, “extending free public transport” for employees of Nice University Hospital’s CHU, or even “the adoption of a resolution in favor of greater tax justice” by repairing the reduction in property tax for second homes caused by the mayor’s tax cut. All decisions that satisfied the ranks of the PCF in the department, which had been absent until then. In light of this renewed presence, the reopening of the party office takes on full significance.

The calm before the storm?

The Nice left has been on a roll since the continuation of the green list in the second round of the municipal elections of March 2026. Strong from its first successes in the municipal and metropolitan council, the opposition group led by Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux (EELV), Patrick Allemand (PS) and Julien Picot (PCF) intends to take advantage of this period of improvement to pass strong measures.

A success that risks lasting only so long according to the communist elected official: “Eric Ciotti wants to restore his image as a democrat, and we’re going to take advantage of that. For now it’s working, our voice and our action are bearing fruit. Everything we gain is social progress for us. Today, Eric Ciotti is buying social peace (…) but once the presidential election is over, he will enter a period of austerity, of recession. The majority will become authoritarian and lock down the opposition’s voice“, predicts Julien Picot, likening the cordial understanding of the first months to a strategy of appearances — moreover in advance of the 2027 presidential election. “This office will be all the more useful at that point, and will provide a welcoming place in direct contact with the population”, declares the elected official.