Municipal Elections 2020: A Debate That Brought Nothing New

Less than a month before the first round of the 2020 municipal election, the eight candidates for the mayor of Nice debated and contrasted their visions for the city on multiple subjects such as ecology, finance and taxation, daily life, and security.

It was a match, Estrosi against all. We must say that the outgoing mayor has seen much more, and this debate will not go down in history.

One might say that the challengers had the satisfaction of letting off steam, at least verbally. For lack of better, that’s already something.

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It was at the headquarters of Nice-Matin that the eight contenders for the mayor of Nice unveiled their proposals for the next six years, yesterday for more than 2 hours.
This very lively debate was led by the editor-in-chief Denis Carreaux and his deputy Patrice Maggio, and it was broadcast live and available to everyone on the Nice-Matin website.

The 8 candidates in the election: Patrick Allemand (Nice au cœur – PS), Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux (Nice écologique AEI, EE-LV, Cap 21, Génération Ecologie), Mireille Damiano (Viva! – PCF, LFI, Génération.s, Ensemble!), Christian Estrosi (LR, Centrists, Modem, MRSL), Benoît Kandel (Various right – Cnip, Debout la France), Christian Razeau (Animalist Party and Human, Animals, Nature Movement), Valéry Sohm (UPR), Philippe Vardon (RN and Popular Right) were all present to debate various current topics.

Ecology was a hot topic right at the start of the debate. Christian Estrosi notably defended his actions, but his main opponents didn’t miss the chance to throw some barbs at him.

For Philippe Vardon “Christian Estrosi talks of a garden city, while the people of Nice see rather a construction site city. In Saint-Isidore, in Saint-Antoine-Ginestière, it’s not trees that are being planted. Instead, cranes are popping up. It’s an ecological nonsense.”

Benoît Kandel was on the same line: “Ecology is certainly not making 300 square meters of garden in the city and then concreting the Var plain.”

For the socialist Patrick Allemand, his critique of the outgoing mayor’s ecological record was also sharp: “We cannot just settle for facade restorations or putting plants in pots.”

Regarding city management and taxation, here too the outgoing mayor was attacked by his competitors. Defending his record, his adversaries expressed very different viewpoints. For Mireille Damiano “we must prioritize. Because the current financial situation is not encouraging. Prioritize to finally benefit all the households of Nice.”

Vardon proposes as a solution “management in the fashion of the National Rally.” Fréjus, Le Pontet, these communes where he explains that “RN mayors have reduced the debt.”

Finally, for Valéry Sohm “Management should be based on common sense” whereas Christian Razeau recalls the tram tunnel: “It was supposed to cost 650 million, we are over a billion now. We pay, we pump, we pour cubic meters of concrete.”

Regarding taxation, Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux expresses her desire to “put an end to the fiscal racket on the household waste collection tax. We tax beyond the service rendered.”

On this subject, Patrick Allemand points out that “In fiscal levies, when the city claims it has reduced the property tax rate, it forgets to mention that the rate was increased by the metropolis.”