The article 49 of the Macron bill allows for the transfer to the private sector of the majority share in the company managing Nice airport*. The airport infrastructure and land will remain the property of the state, which will need to approve airport fee rates every year.
All parties have spoken out and voted against this so-called privatization, which is not really one. But Christian Estrosi wanted his referendum, and if he is happy, the people of Nice will be too!
In reality, more than a referendum it will certainly be a plebiscite for “no”, which will surprise no one since the question posed comes with the same answer. In terms of respecting democratic rules, it’s not quite right, but the ingenuity and boldness of the Mayor of Nice are well known.
All parties in Nice – from the far left to the far right – being against the privatization of the airport, in the end, this consultation of the people of Nice (which raises questions about its purpose since the municipality is not a shareholder of the managing company, but the Mayor of Nice decided otherwise by virtue of the airport being within his territory, thus opening a new path to property rights!) will be pointless.
Firstly, because it will have no prescriptive value, and secondly, because if the Mayor of Nice boasts that all the people of Nice are with him, his opponents will probably have an easy time reminding him that, according to international standards, if the voters do not constitute 50%+1 of the electorate, the consultation is null and void.
This referendum will also have provided an opportunity for unprecedented situations: the Socialist Party (PS) and the National Front (FN) are opposed to the public consultation, considering it a communication stunt by the mayor.
The French Communist Party (PCF), caught in its opposition game like a bug in a spider’s web, will be on the attack as it always does when it can go against the government and confirm its purely and firmly minority vocation.
Finally, the UMP, being at the origin of this initiative, can only support it and finds itself allied unknowingly with the radical left and the extreme right.
The polling stations are open from 8 am to 9 pm.
