The decisions to take back control of public transport and water markets (the latter postponed to a future session) recently voted on by the Metropolitan Council found an unyielding critic in former Senator-Mayor of Nice Jacques Peyrat, who seized this opportunity for a no-holds-barred political comeback against his successor Christian Estrosi. A duel of the former mayor versus the current mayor…
Jacques Peyrat’s conference (known for being an avid reader of classics and seemingly inspired by Cicero in “De senectute,” skillfully wielding with perspective and active presence what the Roman philosopher, a lawyer by the way, called “laborious idleness”) was a prosecution against this decision that goes against a tradition dating back to Jean and Jacques Medecin, that is, a period spanning several decades.
But let us follow Maรฎtre Peyrat’s “j’accuse” through his words: “I am astonished by this direction of the Mayor of Nice to entrust municipal services with the management of public markets for transport (a decided action) and water (a decision to be made soon). And this, after the management of school catering, the MIN, and the Jazz Festival have been taken over.
This direction will have medium-term consequences because it will lead to increased costs. I fear that Mr. Estrosi’s policy will lead us to a situation similar to that of 1995, with debt difficult to manage.
I wonder about the real reasons for this decision of ‘remunicipalization’ or rather ‘remetropolization’ while specialized companies were in place providing quality service at a lower cost.
Christian Estrosi should democratically make public the legal, financial, and economic analyses that led him to his choices. Moreover, I am surprised that he, who prides himself as a champion of liberalism, has become a proponent of centralized economy.
I denounce this serious and inexplicable drift and will remain vigilant in the absence of opposition that fails to honor its role.”
Jacques Peyrat then enumerated, with studies and documents as evidence, an entire series of figures showing that public transport is structurally deficient, in Nice as elsewhere, which suggests a possible increase in fares. The same applies to the water issue (potable and for irrigation) which, according to these documents, is the cheapest in France for the user.
So why bring forward by two years the end of the contract with the delegated company (from 2017 to 2015) and make a decision soon without any urgency?
The former Mayor then expressed himself through the body language of gestures which, as experts in neuropsychology well know, is far more expressive than the oral one. Let’s say, if our insight is correct, the Parisian track and the entourage of the late President of the Republic might provide some answers.
“You know very well that I do not appreciate Christian Estrosi. However, I do not underestimate him. Such a decision surely has a reason. It certainly doesn’t come from the reports of the metropolitan commission chaired by a former train driver and moreover a former communist elected official.”
But, of course, these two issues, while significant, are just the tip of the iceberg of Jacques Peyrat’s opposition against Christian Estrosi. The motivation is known and the municipal election is already looming on the horizon.
Jacques Peyrat will be a candidate against Christian Estrosi in the name of the (far) right?
In a way, he already is when he states: “The problems of the City are not public markets but the impoverishment of its inhabitants and the increase in violence, of which the weakest are the primary victims. What are Mr. Estrosi’s responses? I express genuine concern in the face of this illusion seller.”
Not bad for “a voice from beyond the grave,” as Jacques Peyrat defines himself, right?
