Christian Estrosi has held his office as mayor of Nice “only” since 2008, but the place tells of a political life spanning almost three decades. That of a constant commitment to the right, whether the party is called RPR, UMP or Les Républicains (LR). A few souvenir photos slip between drawings by Niki de Saint Phalle representing colorful characters. One figure shows the mayor alongside Jacques Chirac and his wife, Bernadette, her hair covered with an austere black veil. Another shows him in the company of Nicolas Sarkozy.
A small last made its way into this pantheon, in 2021. We see the chosen one surrounded by Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron. “For my friend Christian Estrosi. I kiss you “, dedicated the Head of State. From 2017, the Niçois showed amenity towards the former minister of François Hollande, who aspired to ” to go past “ the right-left divide.
Today, his support for this “great president”, candidate for re-election on April 10 and 24, has become outspoken and massive. But as the sexagenarian begins to know his Macron, he does not risk calling him a right-wing man. “Emmanuel Macron is the best representative of the overcoming that we need. I have always been a Gaullist, he embodies a certain idea of France and the Resistance, carried by General de Gaulle”he justifies.
By deformation, no doubt, the ex-LR (he left the party in 2021) nevertheless cannot help but highlight all the supposed right-wing markers found in the program of the candidate president: postponement to 65 years of the legal retirement age, reduction of inheritance tax, etc. “Some, on the left, and who have sympathy for Emmanuel Macron, find him too much on the rightagrees Christian Estrosi. Some, on the right, and who have sympathy for him, find that he does not come there enough. » Which already underlines a direction.
experience and stature
The presidential election of 2022 could mark an unprecedented phenomenon: the re-election of a head of state whose center of gravity would shift from left to right. If the tenant of the Elysée retains a large part of the social-democratic electorate which made its success five years ago, its base quickly became righter during the five-year term. The verticality of his exercise of power and his economic liberalism have helped organize this migration, which could make Emmanuel Macron the favorite candidate of a camp held, in 2017, by François Fillon.
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