The first City Council of the new season has set the tone for an autumn that apparently will not only be the season when leaves fall but also certainly some chestnuts…
It could have been thought that the itching and upheavals at the end of the summer (elections of the PS general secretary and the UMP president) had calmed the fervor on both sides, but apparently the local leaders have gathered energy for a few good bouts… fortunately verbal ones!
This was the case between Christian Estrosi and Patrick Allemand during last Friday’s City Council meeting when, as a preamble to the session, the mayor of Nice launched into a passionate speech to attack the government’s economic policy and, along the way, gave himself a “self-congratulation” for his own, by way of comparison.
“The efforts made by our community to relieve the purchasing power of the French or to free up investment margins are annihilated by the Government which takes decisions that heavily weigh on wages or constrain the investment margins of the community”
These comments being made in the City Council chamber of Nice and not in the national assembly chamber, their relevance remains to be proven, unless one considers that everything under the sun is everyone’s business.
While it is true that in politics everything is connected, there remains hope that a future law banning multiple mandates will ensure that none of the elected officials will confuse their role as mayor with that of a deputy.
In fact, it is undeniable that certain measures taken by the mayor of Nice since his election in 2008 have aimed at reducing costs and promoting access for citizens and tourists to public services, and this should be commended.
But, to turn it into a homegrown economic policy resembles an intellectual acrobatic exercise so daring that no economist could endorse it (it is true that as economics is not an exact science, anyone can claim what seems right to them).
Naturally, the deliberately accusatory tone towards the new parliamentary majority could not escape Patrick Allemand who felt compelled to respond in kind:
“I remind you that in 2007 François Fillon declared that France was bankrupt. This did not stop his government from significantly worsening the State’s deficit during the following five-year term.
Moreover, the freeze on State subsidies to local communities dates back to 2010 and the Fillon government.
You talk about purchasing power, but the 2% increase in the minimum wage and the 25% increase in school allowances go in this direction even though budget constraints do not allow for more.”
And not to stop there, the Nice socialist leader threw a stone in his rival’s field about the MAMAC works.
“The MAMAC works are interrupted, much to the chagrin of merchants and residents who have been very patient for years. This interruption is caused by a break in the supply of slabs manufactured in China. This construction mishap once again reveals to the people of Nice the duplicity of Christian Estrosi. On this occasion, they find out that the slabs covering the MAMAC are made in China. Obviously, the mayor did not boast about it, he who ‘overinforms’ the media by posing as a defender of industrial patriotism and ‘made in France.’ He’s been caught red-handed!”
The moral? In politics, controversy is part of everyday life. The spectacle of “skirmishes” between the two is sometimes amusing. However, perhaps an opposition based on political lines rather than a clash of personalities would be more beneficial to city life.
In the end, how about we move on to something else?
