The article from the “volatile” accuses the Nice official of using a city-provided vehicle during his stays in Paris and being chauffeured by a municipal employee (or from the Urban Community), who regularly travels to Paris for this purpose. It’s the third time the newspaper, which self-identifies as satirical yet doesn’t amuse those caught in its crosshairs, targets the former Minister and Mayor of Nice. Is all this purely coincidental?
The first time was in February 2008 concerning the rental of a private plane used to return from abroad for a cocktail at the Élysée. The second incident was in May 2010, involving the occupation of a “double” official apartment that the Minister of Industry at the time used personally and… for family. One of the apartments housed his daughter, a student.
This time (publication this Wednesday, March 9), the accusation is weighing on the municipal record, perhaps unjustified but certainly excessive expenses. The facts are not disputed by the City Hall, which, in a rather cautious statement, claims that this procedure is justified by Christian Estrosi’s municipal duties in Paris.
This formula appears to be an implicit acknowledgment of fault, following the classic formula: “excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta.” But let’s not be made to believe that all deputies who also hold a local public office are equipped with a service car and especially a driver from their hometown. If there was a “friendly” association of permanently traveling drivers, we would know about it!
An enigmatic and complex transport organization
Common sense suggests that he could stay in shape by walking at least for short distances. Let’s not forget that Christian Estrosi is a good athlete. Other means could also be considered, although no one can prevent the Mayor of Nice from using a rental car for his Paris trips. Finally, it becomes even harder to understand why this same car is not rented or driven with a Parisian driver. So the question is this: Is it absolutely necessary for the driver Pistolet (poor him, nomen est omen) to travel recurrently?
Frankly, it’s not a question of being the “Pacha of the Riviera” (the volatile is witty) or formal regularity or irregularity, but simply logic and common sense.
Why make things complicated and difficult when they can be simple and easy?
The demand then imposes itself: does the deputy-mayor’s staff not have the capacity to organize proper logistics to avoid such unnecessary and trivial mistakes? Slipping on banana peels three times in three years is not the best way to maintain one’s popularity and personal image (and God knows the efforts the Mayor of Nice makes for that).
The former Minister and Mayor of Nice, a person with consolidated political experience, knows very well that people (who are also voters) view politicians as privileged individuals who use public assets for personal gain, often if not always. Of course, these accusations express an instinctive sense of distrust towards power and the powerful and should not be generalized. But then, why fuel them so unnecessarily?
Another “deep throat”?
A second consideration arises and it is even more delicate. We know very well that our colleague “volatile” operates thanks to… external collaborations that often have purposes not quite… catholic.
So who is the “deep throat” of this “Estrogate,” putting the deputy-mayor in the sights of the satirical newspaper? Who benefits from his “slips”? As the mistress of noir novels, Agatha Christie, said, “one clue is a clue, two clues are two clues but three clues make a proof.” And evidently, whoever takes perverse pleasure in playing the accuser-moralist is someone who… knows the context and things well!
Already at the time of the previous controversy (the “double” apartment one), in our commentary article, we had allowed ourselves to advise Mr. Estrosi to reconsider the composition of his entourage because, as life teaches so well (historia magistra vitae)… “tu quoque Brute fili mi” (“You too, Brutus”) were Julius Caesar’s last words!
A piece of advice that we modestly allow ourselves to renew on this occasion by adding the following question: cui prodest? (who benefits?). A question that is always the starting point for analyzing the facts in power struggles at the Vatican, a place the Mayor of Nice recently visited. Experience teaches us that, for this type of question, the answer is always silence. So no names, but in this case, as the investigators of the Congregation of the Holy Office teach us, one must be able to interpret… the looks!
