It was announced on its website: as part of the Tour de France of municipal elections, the 24-hour news channel on cable, satellite, and digital terrestrial television, “i Télé” hosted a live debate tonight at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, moderated by Thomas Hugues and Michel Bernouin (from the free daily “Métro”) with the main candidates for the Nice municipal elections. The plan included an initial round between Christian Estrosi and Patrick Allemand, followed by an interview with the outgoing Mayor Jacques Peyrat. However, unforeseen twists in the situation occurred. Late in the afternoon: a dramatic turn. We learned that the Secretary of State for Overseas, despite the multiple options offered to him, according to a channel official, no longer approved of the programming but wished to appear alone on the set.
So, it was alongside the “socialist representative” that the “candidate suspended by the UMP” debated live. As the broadcast approached, Monique Peyrat provided last-minute advice to her husband, while the makeup artist worked on P. Allemand’s face. The first question, about the absence of C. Estrosi, somewhat set the tone for the twenty minutes of discussion. To such an extent, other important subjects were overshadowed—even, with the guilty absent always blamed, focusing criticism on the Secretary of State for Overseas and oddly causing the ideological gap between the two other candidates to be forgotten.
P. Allemand “regrets the evasion” of the Minister, expressing “distress that the people of Nice were deprived of this debate”. J. Peyrat followed in the same vein, a pitch higher, to chastise this “inadmissible absence”. Asked by the journalist about his animosity towards C. Estrosi, J. Peyrat liked to recount how in May 2007, the President of the General Council “had assured him” that he “was not interested in the mayorship of Nice”. Repeatedly, the socialist candidate, like the outgoing mayor, inadvertently made “common cause” against the President of the General Council. P. Allemand tried to remind that C. Estrosi only “started criticizing the Mayor of Nice” since he “became a declared candidate for the position” and described the “outgoing mayor’s balance sheet as mixed”, a qualifier that hardly reflects any fierceness of debate, his words lacking significant conviction. Although he criticized J. Peyrat over known contentious issues—the large stadium, the new city hall, the layout of the tramway, and “not its principle” as the socialist candidate specified, even as he criticized the “deficit of consultation”, the “autocratic management methods” and the “housing problems”, the use of a polished and polite tone did not convey the feeling that J. Peyrat was the enemy to defeat. For his part, J. Peyrat minimized the socialist candidate’s intervention as typical of municipal opposition, while proudly displaying his own achievements: a sports palace, a performance hall, a new university, and a tramway. The question of housing perhaps grazed—just barely—the roughness of debate: P. Allemand lamented the shortage of “18,000” housing units in the Canca, a figure rejected by J. Peyrat who countered with “11,000” homes built since he took office in 1995, making up 12% of social housing in Nice, a margin that saves the city from having to pay fines. If elected, P. Allemand commits to “6,000 new homes being built during his term”. A minimal but noticeable difference between the two on this issue, respectively concerning social housing and housing for active workers. The socialist candidate mentioned that for some households, “rent expenditures approach 60% of income”, necessitating the “relaxation” of rental market constraints. Without denying this difficulty, the outgoing mayor prefers to emphasize housing for active workers, “equally necessary”.
Ultimately, in such a short time span, it was less the substantive questions than the stylistic ones where differences emerged. The vocal tones distinctly differed from one another: that of P. Allemand, more emotional, contrasted with the ever-measured, restrained expression of the outgoing mayor, risking making him appear more aloof. Personality differences very likely also obscured differing electoral stakes.
After a short ten-minute break, it was C. Estrosi’s turn to join the set. Unlike the previous two speakers, the President of the General Council displayed more tension behind an apparent easiness: greeting the host with a jovial “Hello Thomas, how’s it going?”, showing his routine Parisian ease on television sets, he could not help but fill the few minutes before going live with comments that were as innocuous as they were reassuring. However, the scent of gunpowder woke and excited the dormant soldier. Once the broadcast started, the host had great difficulty steering the conversation as he wished: barely did he mention his guest’s refusal to partake in a group debate when the Secretary of State for Overseas focused his verbal salvos on the concerns of the people of Nice, dismissively waving away Thomas Hugues’s question about his “fear of Jacques Peyrat, a possible reason for his withdrawal”. “Fear? Absent?” C. Estrosi mocked, “My name was mentioned 29 times in the previous discussion!”. “I rather feel, the Minister continued, that I was indeed very much present!”. Following suit as a good disciple of the Sarkozy method, a cascade of figures and a flurry of projects were unleashed, dizzying as they revolved around three main ideas: by running for election, C. Estrosi believes he is saving the mayorship of Nice from falling into opposition, he thinks he’s tightening the ranks of his own party, preventing the proliferation of candidacies even within the right, and he claims to want to “sanitize” a catastrophic financial state in which the city of Nice finds itself. The host made a couple of attempts to break through on the housing issue, revisiting the paltry figure mentioned by P. Allemand of “17 homes” built by the General Council. To no avail. C. Estrosi rejoiced at being at the helm of the second department after the Hauts de Seine investing the most in housing, adding along the way his joy of having “facilitated the property ownership of 5,000 young people under 25” and having “frozen any tax increase” in the Alpes-Maritimes. As for P. Allemand, the official UMP candidate could easily recall that the first Vice-President of the Region had voted for 97% of the budgetary decisions. Not having time to catch his breath, C. Estrosi was already planning ahead. On a roll, he envisioned making Nice “a green city of the Mediterranean”, announcing along the way a recently signed agreement to this effect with the Nicolas Hulot Foundation and the blessing of Matignon. With rumours of a rise in the polls for J. Peyrat, some local observers predicted an adjustment, or even a pause, in the electoral campaign of Christian Estrosi. It would rather be a bold acceleration.
Photo Credit: Huffschmitt
