Éric Ciotti wants to install flagpoles in the 89 primary schools in Nice to fly the French flag and organize flag-raising ceremonies. The Nice opposition contests this priority.
The tricolor flag will make its entrance into the courtyards of Nice schools. On Friday, August 28, Éric Ciotti announced the upcoming installation of a flagpole in each of the 89 primary schools in Nice. The mayor wishes to fly the French flag and regularly organize flag-raising ceremonies with students, accompanied by La Marseillaise.
The announcement comes as a debate has begun with the Education Ministry. The minister Édouard Geffray believes that a municipality cannot unilaterally decide on the organization of flag-raising ceremonies in a school. Éric Ciotti had contacted the rectorat to try to build a framework with the Education Ministry. A meeting with the new rector of the Nice Academy is scheduled for September 7.
The mayor of Nice contests the government’s position. This Monday, August 31, Éric Ciotti denounced “astounding” statements by the minister and defended the possibility of an agreement between the city and the Education Ministry.
Faced with this initiative, several voices from the Nice opposition criticize the political choice and priorities displayed by the municipal administration.
The opposition contests the priority given to flags
For Julien Picot, departmental secretary of the PCF06 and opposition elected official, this announcement is part of Éric Ciotti’s political strategy. A reading that goes beyond the school issue alone. « Éric Ciotti campaigning to become Marine Le Pen’s minister », asserts the communist official, who accuses the mayor of Nice of wanting to prepare the arrival of the far right to power. »
Julien Picot also contests the idea of an appropriation of the tricolor flag by the far right. « The blue, white, and red flag belongs neither to Éric Ciotti, nor to the National Rally, nor to the far right. It belongs to the French people », reminds the departmental secretary of the PCF06.
The question of resources devoted to schools also comes up in the criticism from Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux. The Green elected official considers the decision to be « a diversion » intended to divert attention from other school issues.
« What matters is equality, fraternity, liberty, liberty. The values of the Republic are to give everyone access to school according to their means », the opposition elected official declared on BFM Côte d’Azur.
The Green candidate in the recent municipal elections notably points to the elimination of free school supplies and thermal renovation work. For Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux, these issues must take precedence over the installation of new flagpoles in school courtyards.
The question of adapting buildings to high temperatures is also part of the criticism. « Air conditioning in a building that is not thermally insulated is a lot of wasted energy and it serves no purpose and it costs the community money », believes the elected official from the Green group.
The French flag is already present in classrooms, as is the text of La Marseillaise, Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux reminds us. « It is not necessary to build flagpoles, to spend public money to build flagpoles and hold flag-raising ceremonies that are symbolic. Symbols are important, but they are not the priority. »
Christian Estrosi adopts a different position from that of the Green and communist opposition. The former mayor of Nice, questioned on the subject during a visit to Masséna high school as vice president of the South Region, nevertheless refused to interfere in Nice’s municipal politics: « I do not wish to meddle in Nice’s political life, before adding: I think that Nice schools do not lack republican symbols. We had made sure that on the pediment, the French flag is there, the motto is there and that there are police officers in schools when the board of directors agreed. »
The former official thus insists on another priority: « the priority is the way we transmit education to students. »
The debate therefore no longer focuses solely on the presence of the French flag in Nice schools. The meeting scheduled for September 7 between Éric Ciotti and the new rector of the Nice Academy should help clarify the contours of the proposed system.
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