Even though the Macron law has not been passed, the consular business community is showing pragmatism and sending a clear and responsible message (see box) to the head of Bercy. At first glance, the ambassadors on both sides have done a good job….
Beyond words, what matters is the openness to confrontation where each party will defend its interests, especially since the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) is the second-largest shareholder (at 25%) of the Nice Côte Azur International Airport company.
With this positioning, Bernard Kleynhoff distances himself as much as possible from the standoff that Christian Estrosi is engaging with a burlesque two-sided referendum, whose purpose and reasoning are hard to understand.
If it is intended to pressure Minister Macron, doesn’t he have the possibility to do so at the National Assembly with the support of his political group, which carries more weight than the thousands of citizens of Nice who will vote — one wonders on what grounds given that we’re talking about an international airport and not just a local one — in the referendum scheduled for February 19th!
The position of the CCI, expressed a week before this referendum, has thrown Patrick Allemand and the PS 06, who had declared themselves against privatization without supporting the principle of the referendum, into panic.
If the broad unanimity against the Macron law is no longer current, it’s not that easy for Patrick Allemand to maintain a position in opposition to the socialist government: “I solemnly ask the president of the CCI, Bernard KLEINHOFF, to clarify his position and call for a “no” vote on the privatization of the airport. If the CCI were to persist, it would weaken the mayor of Nice, which would be a first, but also all the elected officials who have rejected the principle of this privatization, thereby making the people of Nice think, just days before the vote, that their elected leaders have misjudged the situation,” said the socialist official.
The communists are also dancing on both feet:
For Jacques Victor, general councilor: “We can only be pleased to see the Deputy Mayor of Nice stand against the giveaway to the private sector of a structuring piece of equipment in terms of territorial planning.”
But, but… “The right in power in 2005, with a certain Christian ESTROSI, appointed Minister for Territorial Planning, had, through the April 2005 law, opened airport management to private capital, introducing the fox into the henhouse,” points out the Nice official with good memory.
To launch his accusation: “We denounced at the time the intention to approve the process leading to the privatization of this extremely important facility for our department’s development prospects.”
And to conclude: “That’s why, while we intend to firmly oppose any airport privatization… we cannot condone a political and electoral exploitation of structural issues for the future of the Alpes-Maritimes.”
Final result? Everyone has their own ideas and electoral interests to defend. Local and national politics intertwine, sometimes with a clear problem of over-positioning that neither helps synthesis nor solution.
We haven’t heard the last of Nice Airport…!
The time is not yet ripe for the grand gala ball!
