Nice-Premium: Mayor of Nice, President of CANCA, Chairman of the Alpes-Maritimes General Council: three “roles” that you have played in three “films.” Next Sunday, a fourth will certainly be on the “screen.”
Christian Estrosi: There is only one film. It is the new chapter in the history of this city and the Alpes-Maritimes territory between sea and mountain, where I want to cement the sanctuary of the Bay of Angels and at the same time, the Mercantour National Park, so that solidarity is practiced among everyone, and we maintain a territory that makes the world dream.
N-P: What will your “role” as a deputy consist of, if you are, of course, “selected”?
C.E.: To carry the message of this exceptional territory within the parliament so that we are respected and heard on each of our claims.
N-P: Such as?
C.E.: The best possible public health policy, security for each individual which is the first of freedoms, the call for projects for 10 21st-century university campuses, a large campus on sustainable economy development policies…
These are just a few examples that show that if we want to be heard by the state, the Mayor of Nice must be able to carry this file, this message, so that we can, together, make this territory.
N-P: To “land” this “role,” you went to meet all your potential next “audience,” yet you know these voters, and these voters know you. Why?
C.E.: For me, respect is essential. There are 72 municipalities with Nice, obviously. One cannot solicit votes even if one has very strong ties that have strengthened over the years, 20 years of common and shared history, without at the same time showing respect by going to meet everyone in each neighborhood, each village, each hamlet. For me, it is a principle of respect for all my constituents, and that is how I have always worked, and once again, I wanted this meeting which is always a plus of enthusiasm with a human dimension.
N-P: A particular meeting that stood out to you?
C.E.: The meeting with the inhabitants of the smallest villages like Illonse: 45 inhabitants or Tournefort: 52 inhabitants. It’s as important as a neighborhood in Nice where there are 28,000 inhabitants because I want this solidarity that always gives more to those who have the least. For me, that is territorial solidarity.
N-P: Other candidates for this “role” denounce your accumulation of functions. What do you have to say to what they call: “A masquerade that looks very much like a game of musical chairs”?
C.E.: Why don’t they talk about what they propose?
When one is a candidate, one says what one has to offer. I talk about what I have to offer. I don’t talk about others. I don’t criticize anyone. I respect everyone. I believe that today, citizens do not like provocations, vulgarity, aggressiveness. So, I believe they discredit themselves. I don’t have to respond to that.
N-P: Mayor of Nice, President of CANCA, Chairman of the Alpes-Maritimes General Council. What is your “magic potion” for holding these mandates?
C.E.: I am not on a 35-hour work week!
N-P: What is Christian Estrosi chasing after?
C.E.: Simply, the love of my country, the love of my department, the love of my city. A fierce determination to always set the bar higher. Everyone knows that when I make commitments, I always keep them. When I promise, I do, because I can’t imagine political life any other way. And if for 25 years, universal suffrage has never failed me, if the trust of my administrative staff has always been present, it’s because they know me and they know that I have never betrayed them.
N-P: Like an athlete who constantly raises the bar, to surpass his performances?
C.E.: When I manage to double the capacity of the national road 202 on the right bank of the Var, it is a commitment I made six years ago saying, “In six years, you’ll see, I will deliver it to you.” Some doubted, but I have achieved it. I have relieved so many problems that all those who, during peak hours, were going to or returning from their workplaces suffered.
Today, I say I want a dedicated public transport network, a tramway network beyond Line 1, a Line 2 that goes from east to west, a Line 3 that would start from Malausséna to go up the Var Plain and reach the intersection of our valleys. What I say, I will do.
In five years, all this will be delivered, like the stadium of 40,000 seats. These are not just words; it’s already under construction. And at the same time, I want to guarantee a better quality of life on a daily basis and be attentive to everyone in the field of public health, in the fight against major suffering. It is also the responsibility of the public man. We know that when one is affected by illness, it can be a shattered life, a devastated family, and I want, there too, the best health excellence hub in France.
N-P: Here, the final cut of our interview is about to fall, one last question: What role would you have liked to play?
C.E.: I have always dreamed since my childhood of going to the stars. When I saw Armstrong take the first step on the Moon, I was 14 years old, and I thought: “You, in 10 years, you’ll be there.” Perhaps I will never go, and my dream today is to make this department of Alpes Maritimes appear like a dream planet on the edge of the Mediterranean. To make Nice, the green city, to which everyone wants to go. It might be a bit utopian, but it’s my part of the dream, and if I can help it make, at least, an important part of the journey in this direction, whatever fate universal suffrage reserves for me one day, if I have succeeded a little in this, I know that I will have left a little something of myself.
