Eric Ciotti, deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes, keeps a bitter taste in his mouth. Every year takes place in Nice, on the Promenade des Anglais, the Europetanque, an international competition of this sport so popular in its native South. Alas, the organizers had to change location. Express order from the city of Nice, believes the elected official, and therefore from his longtime enemy, the mayor of the city of Angels, Christian Estrosi. Instead, specifies the outgoing deputy of the 1re district of the department, another competition was created specifically by the metropolis.
In the entourage of the mayor of Nice, we reject the idea “of a hostage-taking of the Nice people” to settle personal accounts. We take this opportunity to note that the deputy had the Alpes-Maritimes departmental council vote for a grant to an association “which only aims to thwart the plans for the development of the Paillon promenade” of the town hall. Vibe.
The story may seem anecdotal, but it perfectly illustrates the daily bickering that poisons the life of what was a hegemonic right in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region. Here, in fact, two factions of this political family clash. And the legislative elections of June 12 and 19 are a new opportunity to settle old scores. On the one hand, the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, the president of the region, Renaud Muselier, or even the mayor of Toulon, Hubert Falco, who left the Les Républicains (LR) party – which they judge in a “radical drift” – and moved closer to the presidential majority. On the other, the outgoing deputies who remained LR, holding a harder line, in particular on security issues, such as Eric Ciotti in the Alpes-Maritimes, but also Julien Aubert in the Vaucluse and Bernard Reynès in the Bouches-du- Rhone.
” I do not forget “
The latter accuse the former of wanting to replay the 2021 regional match and liquidate all that remains of LR in the Southeast. At the time, Renaud Muselier, candidate for his succession, had been booed by his former partners for having wanted to unite with the macronists against the far right; his friends Messrs. Estrosi and Falco were called “harmful”. Conversely, the latter consider that they are today “the only right” in the territory: the rest, explains Anthony Borré, first deputy mayor of Nice and regional manager of Horizons, “It’s the extreme right”. Close the ban.
The battle largely involves the active support provided by the mayors of Nice and the president of the PACA region to the competitors stamped “presidential majority” of the LR candidates. Despite a bad fall at the end of May, which cost him five broken ribs and a pneumothorax, Renaud Muselier wants “get fully involved” in the legislative campaign in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. “Between the extreme right and the extreme right, there is another way, he assures. Some have done everything for me to lose. I am neither vindictive nor resentful, but I do not forget. »
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