(ndlr) After the summer, the duel between the two leaders of Nice’s politics resumed with renewed energy. Apparently, the Mayor does not really accommodate the new situation, a government that does not align with his political inclination, and it poses a question that can have only one answer, “what else?” as in the famous advertisement.
Thus, his local opponent, buoyed by this new national situation, has regained his vigor and no longer misses an opportunity to criticize the style of the ‘lord of the manor’ and the monologues that characterize Christian Estrosi.
We will have to get used to it; autumn promises some fierce clashes!
The UMP deputy-mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, protested to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, stating that the removal of the social exemption on overtime and the increase in the minimum wage decided by the government would strain the budget of his city.
“The measures you have decided, impossible to anticipate, will strain the budget of the City of Nice as well as that of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis (46 municipalities, ed.) by approximately 2.1 million euros in a full year and more than 1 million euros for the year 2012 alone,” writes the mayor of Nice.
This budgetary unforeseen is caused by “the removal of social exemptions on overtime with private contract agents” and by “the increase in the minimum wage.”
The minimum wage was increased by 2% on July 1st, including 1.4 percentage points for inflation, to reach 1,425.67 euros gross per month.
In his letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. Estrosi states that he will be forced into budget reorganizations “to the detriment of certain programs and subsidies essential for the economic and social development of our territory” and asks the government to “offset the additional expenditure generated by (its) policy by increasing the overall functioning grants for the City of Nice and the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis.”
While awaiting the government’s response, a first reaction came via Patrick ALLEMAND, President of the Changer d’ère Group:
“Cost of government measures for Nice: negligible compared to what the mayor himself costs!
It’s hard to believe. Christian Estrosi criticizes the cost of the minimum wage increase and the end of overtime exemptions for the city and the Nice Côte d’Azur metropolis (2.1 million euros according to him).
We thought that the “social Gaullist” he claims to be would instead approve the support for the most modest workers in Nice Côte d’Azur. Instead, he chooses a contemptible stance. No other mayor in France, including the ultras of the UMP, dared take such a position and present such fanciful figures.
If Christian Estrosi truly cared about Nice’s finances, he would not have spent 2 million euros on a bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics that didn’t even pass the first round of pre-selection, and he would not have increased by 80% the extravagant reception expenses and the self-glorifying ad placements in newspapers. Compared to such whims, the salary increase he will have to grant his minimum wage employees seems quite negligible.”
