Nice-Premium: March is approaching. You are officially a candidate for a third term. How do you define the next four months in the life of Jacques Peyrat?
Jacques Peyrat: The next four months will be intense, exciting, but also certainly tense. In the face of what seems to be the division of our camp, that is to say, also the division of our supporters and our voters, facing a campaign that we are trying to position at a different level than that of record and programs, we will need to show tenacity, conviction, and determination. I approach the coming times with a lot of serenity but also a bit of sadness to see our camp, which could have easily won with a united candidacy, tearing itself apart.
NP: Another important date: November 24, 2007, with the inauguration of the Nice Tramway. What will you feel on the day of the inauguration? Will the President of CANCA and Senator Mayor of Nice leave a small place for Jacques Peyrat, the municipal candidate, on November 24, 2007?
JP: Undoubtedly, November 24 will be a significant and important date for me. For Nice, I believe it will be a foundational date. Foundational for a renewal, for an era bringing back a newfound hope. This event goes far beyond the electoral framework as it is a major meeting for all Niรงois without exclusion and without affiliation. There aren’t two Jacques PEYRAT; there isn’t on one side the candidate and on the other the Mayor; there isn’t on one side the person offering the Niรงois a completely transformed and modernized city with the introduction of the tramway, and on the other, the one asking for a third term around ideas of proximity, sustainable development, and service to people. There is unity in all of this: unity around a balance sheet of debt reduction and tax reduction first, efforts for the modernization of our City second, and proximity and rapport with the citizens finally.
NP: At the beginning of this campaign, all eyes are on Christian Estrosi. The media’s eyes, the UMP members, UMP deputies, and even some of your allies who call for the candidacy of the President of the General Council of Alpes Maritimes. How are you experiencing this period?
JP: That a number of local bigwigs align themselves behind Christian ESTROSI’s candidacy, I have never doubted. Among those who joined us in 2001, there are those who already belonged to the inner circle and the municipalities that preceded me.
From certain others, on the contrary, I see it as a betrayal, a betrayal towards me first, who trusted them, a betrayal towards a team from which they are dissociating and yet hasn’t failed, especially a betrayal towards the Niรงois and Niรงoises who didn’t deserve such behavior, who could have hoped for better in terms of general interest.
“I will lead a list of civil society, open to the socio-professional world, going beyond partisan divides and personal friendships.”
NP: Do you feel disappointment and do you understand this attraction to Christian Estrosi?
JP: Yes, it is evident that I feel disappointment in view of a certain lack of recognition and the proven opportunism of a few. As for the attraction, there will inevitably be around the Secretary of State candidate, all haloed by his position in Paris, just as there is already around the team led by the outgoing Mayor, with a good record, achievements, and a plan for Nice… The Niรงois will judge!
NP: Are you ready to face Christian Estrosi with the UMP machine behind him?
JP: Elections are not won with machines but with ideas, programs, and projects. In all of this, the only thing that counts is Nice, thinking about the Niรงois and Niรงoises, and the future of our city that I have chosen to protect against often everyone, the innovative projects that are now delivered. Tomorrow again, I will fight for this particular idea of our City.
NP: The National Front, through Rรฉmy Franรงois, courted you. You declined the offer. So is it definitively excluded that members of the National Front appear on your list?
JP: I am a member of the UMP, and as such, I have applied for the support of my political formation. Whatever happens, I will not be the candidate of a single party. As in 1995, following the approach of openness and gathering, I will lead a list of civil society, open to the socio-professional world, going beyond partisan divides and personal friendships.
NP: We mentioned a possible confrontation between Jacques Peyrat and Christian Estrosi on the right, but the left will have its duel between Patrick Allemand and Patrick Mottard. What do you think, and how do you explain these splits within the parties?
JP: I will not react to the way of proceeding and discussions within the opposition because, most often as a bloc, the socialists with their communist, green, and alternative allies of the municipal opposition have opposed the modern, innovative, and structuring projects that we have proposed to them. Together or separately, they are opponents.
However, I observe that if I am shaken today, after twelve years of work and efforts, by a candidate, as unexpected as surprising, coming from my political formation, there is a similar scenario on the side of the PS, where the candidate who led the municipal opposition for twelve years is also shakenโฆ
I would almost have sympathy for Mr. Mottard!
NP: To finish, let’s discuss the role of the media. There have been some skirmishes between your entourage and the regional daily. What is your opinion on this, and do you fear any bias in the municipal election?
JP: The role of the media in general and particularly during a municipal election is to inform, to present each side, to expose the programs, and thereby the choices offered to the voters. I simply hope that Nice-Matin, like all other media, will respect this deontology on the occasion of the municipal deadlines.
