The City Council returns to a plenary session with Christian Estrosi as Mayor despite his statements about resignation following his election as head of the PACA Region.
“Will this be the last time?” This is the question circulating in the halls of the City Hall, which will become, in the coming weeks, the headquarters of the Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur, whose President is and will remain the same, Christian Estrosi.
In fact, this explains that, and the new Mayor of Nice will be elected when the system is set up and allows Christian Estrosi to maintain control over the functioning of the Niçois municipality through a representative.
An agenda always fully packed (173 deliberations, good luck ladies and gentlemen councilors!) and, as the main course, the 2016 budget, whose main lines were already known during the budgetary orientation debate on February 5th.
Despite the undeniable competence of the chief financial officer Philippe Pradal and his oratory skill that allows him to juggle or find his way through the maze of figures, we anticipate some fierce debates with the hired swords from the various opposition parties.
Moreover, as Gabin said in the film “The President”: “The language of numbers has this in common with that of flowers, you can make it say whatever you want.”
In this respect, Madame Célia Georges leaves the Independent Elected Officials group led by Gaël Nofri, who will vote for the budget, and thereby positions herself within the municipal majority as could have been predicted for some time. Madame Georges remains in the opposition and will soon announce in which group (FN? Bettati?).
A working group on the future of the Victorine studios is also announced, as the lease with the current delegatee is due to expire soon. Considering the evolution of the film industry, creativity will be required to imagine a future for this site without resorting to the usual real estate solution.
It will be of interest to observe the distribution of sports and cultural subsidies, which we would like to understand beyond the catch-all terms, such as “operation” and “objective contract.” When talking about millions of euros, a bit more clear explanations would help prevent suspicions of patronage and electoral allegiance returns.
Bon appétit!
