Municipal Elections 2020: Ethics, Conviction or Just a Label?

Ecology and ethics are the two key words in the electoral campaign for the municipal elections.

For the first, everyone has discovered their green fiber, wanting greenery everywhere.
As for the second, there’s an ambition to pass through the gates of paradise while still on earth.

Unfortunately, experience and memory remind us that once the electoral circus is over, everyone will fall back in line.

Nevertheless, the virtuous do not hide; on the contrary, they flaunt their virtue.

Have they not read Seneca, who said: Ipsa virtus pretium sui? In fact, there’s no need to proclaim it; it just needs to be practiced.

This week, two of the candidate lists presented their “ethical” commitment. Voters will be able to appreciate them and consider them when voting.

Nice au Coeur:
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1. Availability of elected officials:

Nice au Coeur commits to ensuring that the mayor holds no other mandate, whether departmental, regional, or national, and adheres to the law with a maximum of three consecutive terms.

Nice au Coeur commits to adjusting the amount of allowances awarded to municipal councilors based on their actual participation in plenary sessions.

1. Prevention of conflicts of interest:

Nice au Coeur commits to implementing mechanisms for detecting conflicts of interest in order to indicate, before each plenary session, the officials who should recuse themselves.

Nice au Coeur commits to banning elected officials and public agents from accepting any gifts or advantages from companies. Nice au Coeur commits to developing ethical training.

1. Recognition of minority elected officials

Nice au Coeur commits to allowing minority elected officials to exercise their right to training, information, and expression.

Nice au Coeur commits to proposing the presidency of the finance committee to a minority elected official but does not wish to be associated with the negotiation phases provided for in the awarding of public contracts.

Nice au Coeur commits to involving minority elected officials in the designation of non-elected members of the consultative commission of public services.

Nice au Coeur commits to extending the right to functional protection to all elected officials, even those who have not received delegations from the executive.

1. Transparency of public action:

Nice au Coeur commits to making public the attendance of municipal councilors at plenary sessions.

Nice au Coeur commits to putting online the most important communicable documents: deliberations, orders, minutes of plenary sessions, etc.

Nice au Coeur commits to promptly follow the opinions of the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents, to put online the amount of allowances received by each municipal councilor, and to publish legal fees incurred by the municipality and rendered judgments.

1. Fighting corruption

There is no need for an ethical alert referent in Nice, as Nice was one of the first cities to establish an ethics committee.

Nice au Coeur does not commit to the suspension of executive functions of an elected official indicted for breach of probity, respecting the principle of the presumption of innocence.

Nice au Coeur, however, commits to withdrawing executive functions from any official convicted for breach of probity.

1. Control of municipal action

Nice au Coeur commits to encouraging the training of municipal councilors and to making public the names of training organizations, creating a follow-up committee on public procurement contracts, which will examine their amendments and disputes.

Nice au Coeur commits to creating a monitoring committee for expenses related to communication.

1. Citizen participation in local decisions

The consultative commission of local public services is already established in Nice.

Nice au Coeur commits to involving the population in decisions through consultations or local referendums and to ensuring the expression of all points of view during procedures allowing citizens to express themselves.

ViVA! List

1. The City of Nice will cease to honor, celebrate, or name streets after personalities who have been convicted of corruption-related offenses, made racist or discriminatory statements, or committed reprehensible acts.

2. The City of Nice will cease all forms of stigmatization or segregation of segments of the population and will discontinue any policy aimed at fueling fears and promoting denunciation. We will promote the emergence of “living well together” in Nice.

3. The City of Nice will establish gender parity as a rule for all existing or to-be-created bodies, including commission presidencies or other responsibilities.

4. The City of Nice will respect the full exercise of opposition rights, including speaking rights at city council meetings, etc.

5. We will guarantee the greatest transparency concerning the use of public funds, contracts, and subsidies.

6. We will guarantee the greatest transparency concerning the allocation of social housing and nursery places.

7. We will guarantee the greatest transparency concerning the decisions of the city council, the metropolitan council, and its bureau.

8. We will guarantee the greatest transparency concerning all indicators of security, pollution, and public health, and, more broadly, access to public data.

9. Elected officials must respect secularism, freedom of worship and conscience, and strict neutrality in religious matters during their municipal and/or metropolitan mandate.

10. Elected officials must make public their assets at the beginning and end of their mandate, the use of their allowances, and the effectiveness of their attendance and participation in commissions and municipal councils.

11. Any ViVA! elected official at the municipal and/or metropolitan council will not hold any other elective mandate.

12. Any ViVA! elected official at the municipal and/or metropolitan council will not serve more than two consecutive terms.

13. Any municipal councilor indicted for an integrity breach in their functions as an elected official will be suspended.

14. Any municipal councilor finally convicted of an integrity breach will have their delegations withdrawn.

15. We will guarantee citizens not only control power but participation in the formulation, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation of municipal policies.