The usual atmosphere of such circumstances: local nomenclature, personalities, various guests, aspiring socialites were present with the hope of seeing and, above all, the ambition of being seen. In short, the classic “social climbing” scenario found everywhere and almost too often in these circumstances, with the same frozen smiles and the same athletic feats to appear in the official photo next to the ‘all-powerful’.
Official New Year’s greetings event in the magnificent halls of the Palais des Sarde, once a royal residence. Under the paneling and the statue celebrating “Nice which gives itself to France,” the Prefect hosted civil, military, and religious authorities, corporate bodies, and guests for this ceremonial event, accompanied by the deputy mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, the deputy-President of the General Council, Eric Ciotti, in the presence of the President of the Regional Council, Michel Vauzelle, as the guest of honor.
The official speeches were also those expected for the occasion, celebrating Nice and its uniqueness within the regional territorial framework and its Mediterranean ambitions, each speaker performing the role expected from their public office and personal profile (which we classified according to the four movements of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, frequently played at end-of-year concerts):
- allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso: The Prefect
- molto vivace: The President of CG06
- adagio molto e cantabile: The President of the Regional Council
- finale presto: The Mayor of Nice
And to conclude, the “prize hidden in the King’s cake”: Michel Vauzelle declared the moral and especially financial support of the Regional Council for the Grand Stade niçois project, ensuring equal treatment between the Nice arena, which lost its Olympic status to become a mere Nice Stadium, and the renovation of the Marseille Vélodrome Stadium.
As it turns out, disputes were over, rivalries forgotten, and for once… equality (of subsidy) could rhyme with fraternity (between Nice and Marseille) on a final Air of “Ode to Joy” (poem by F. Von Schiller set to music by L. Van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9).
