Christian Estrosi

Christian Estrosi (born 1 July 1955) is a French sportsman and politician of the Republicans (LR) who has been serving as Mayor of Nice since 2017. He is a former professional motorcyclist and politician, a former Minister, and a former President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

Christian Estrosi
Mayor of Nice
Assumed office
15 May 2017
Preceded byPhilippe Pradal
In office
21 March 2008 – 13 June 2016
Preceded byJacques Peyrat
Succeeded byPhilippe Pradal
President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
In office
18 December 2015 – 8 May 2017
Preceded byMichel Vauzelle
Succeeded byRenaud Muselier
Deputy Minister of Industry
In office
23 June 2009 – 13 November 2010
PresidentNicolas Sarkozy
Prime MinisterFrançois Fillon
Preceded byOffice created
Succeeded byÉric Besson
Deputy Minister of Overseas France
In office
19 June 2007 – 17 March 2008
PresidentNicolas Sarkozy
Prime MinisterFrançois Fillon
Preceded byHervé Mariton
Succeeded byYves Jégo
Deputy Minister of Planning of the Territory
In office
2 June 2005 – 15 May 2007
PresidentJacques Chirac
Prime MinisterDominique de Villepin
Preceded byFrédéric de Saint-Sernin
Succeeded byHubert Falco
Personal details
Born (1955-07-01) 1 July 1955
Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France
NationalityFrench
Political partyRally for the Republic
(1988–2002)
Union for a Popular Movement
(2002–2015)
The Republicans (2015–present)
Spouse(s)Dominique Estrosi Sassone (1995–2016)
Laura Tenoudji (2016–present)
Children3
ProfessionMotorcyclist
Christian Estrosi
NationalityFrench
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Active years1976–1983
First race1976 500cc Finnish Grand Prix
Last race1983 250cc Swedish Grand Prix
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
31 0 0 1 0

Early life

Estrosi was born on 1 July 1955 in Nice.[1][2] His grandparents were immigrants from Italy.[1]

Motorcycle racing

Estrosi was a professional motorcycle racer and competed at the world championship level in Grand Prix motorcycle racing.[3] His best result was a fourth-place finish in the 500cc 1978 French Grand Prix.[3] He repeated the result with another fourth-place finish at the 1979 Spanish Grand Prix.[3] He received the Youth and Sports gold medal.

Political career

Early beginnings

Estrosi was a member of the municipal council of Nice from 1983 to 1990, when he resigned.[1]

Career in national politics

Estrosi served as a member of the National Assembly of France for the 5th constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes from 1988 to 1993, then from 1997 to 2005, from 2008 to 2009, then from 2010 to 2016.[1] In parliament, he served on the Committee on Cultural Affairs (1998-1993, 1996-2002), the Finance Committee (2012-2016) and the Committee on Legal Affairs (2002-2005, 2008-2012).[4]

In addition, Estrosi has held several ministerial positions in the French government in Paris.[1] He was appointed on 2 June 2005 as Deputy Minister of Land Management in the government of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, serving under Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy.[1] He was then appointed on 19 June 2007 as the Deputy Minister of the Overseas French territories (DOM-TOM), this time serving under Michèle Alliot-Marie.[1] From 2009 to 2010, he served as Deputy Minister in charge of Industry.[1] During his time in office, he was widely seen as a close ally of Sarkozy.[5]

Career in municipal politics

Estrosi was a regional councillor of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur from 1992 to 2002, and as its Vice President from 1992 to 1998.[1] He later served as Vice-president of the General Council of Alpes-Maritimes from 2001 to 2003, and as its President from 2003 to 2008.[1]

Estrosi was re-elected to the municipal council of Nice in the 2008 elections, when he was also elected Mayor of Nice.[1] In addition, he served as President of the Urban community of Nice Côte d'Azur from 2008 and Chairman of Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur from 2012. In 2013, he rejected a plan to build a mosque funded by a businessman from Saudi Arabia in Nice.[6]

Ahead of the UMP (later Republicans) leadership election in 2014, Estrosi led a group supporting Nicolas Sarkozy as the party's chairman.[7]

In the Republicans' 2016 primary, Estrosi also endorsed Sarkozy as the party's candidate for the 2017 French presidential election.[8] Ten months ahead of elections, he and other local conservatives aggressively criticized Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve for the strength of the national police force presence on the night the 2016 Nice truck attack.[9] Amid the Fillon affair, in March 2017, Estrosi joined Xavier Bertrand, Valérie Pécresse and others in calling for Alain Juppé to replace François Fillon as the party’s candidate.[10][11] Also, he met with Emmanuel Macron during his campaign.[12]

On 8 May 2017, the day after the second round of the presidential election, Estrosi announced his resignation from the presidency of the PACA region to run to become mayor of Nice again.[13] He is still managing the region as vice-president.

Political positions

Estrosi was among conservative politicians in France who backed calls for a ban on the body-covering burkini swimsuit that some Muslim women wear on the beach, which was later invalidated by French courts.[14] In 2016, he threatened to sue people who distributed photos of an incident in which Nice police ordered a Muslim woman to remove her burkini, saying that circulating the photos would "provoke defamatory remarks and threats against police agents".[15][16]

In 2017, Estrosi distanced himself from his earlier decision to vote in favor of a 1988 bill on the reinstatement of the death penalty.[17]

Recognition

Estrosi is the recipient of a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Haifa in Israel. He is a Knight of the Legion of Honour from the French Republican, an Officer of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, and a Commander of the Order of Saint-Charles from Monaco.

Controversy

In 2017, Estrosi filed a defamation suit against Marine Le Pen for accusing him of being in league with Islamist militants; as a consequence, the European Parliament lifted Le Pen’s immunity from prosecution.[18]

Personal life

Estrosi was married to Dominique Sassone, daughter of Jean Sassone (1931–2006), who served as Vice Mayor of Nice from 1977 to 1998.[19][20]

Early on during the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Estrosi tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.[21]

References
  1. "Official website biography". Archived from the original on 2013-08-15. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  2. National Assembly webpage
  3. "Rider Statistics - Christian Estrosi". MotoGP.com. Retrieved 2015-12-19.
  4. Christian Estrosi National Assembly.
  5. Hugh Carnegy (February 29, 2012), Politics: Sarkozy confident of support in the south Financial Times.
  6. Paul Barelli, Mosquée à Nice : l'équilibrisme électoral de M. Estrosi, Le Monde, 10.10.2013.
  7. Nicholas Vinocur and Emmanuel Jarry (June 4, 2014), Sarkozy allies urge him to return, lead divided opposition Reuters.
  8. Tristan Quinault-Maupoil (August 21, 2016), Primaire à droite : Christian Estrosi rallie Nicolas Sarkozy Le Figaro.
  9. Sophie Louet and Richard Lough (July 25, 2016), French government raps conservative opponents over Nice security row Reuters.
  10. John Irish (March 5, 2017), French conservative party heavyweights to push for Fillon alternative, says senior politician Reuters.
  11. John Irish and Andrew Callus (March 5, 2017), French conservatives in disarray as Fillon clings on Reuters.
  12. Marc Leras and Dominique Vidalon (April 1, 2017), Macron throws electoral net wide, meeting Sarkozy's man in the south Reuters.
  13. "Christian Estrosi annonce sa démission de la présidence de la région PACA pour redevenir maire de Nice". Agence France-Presse. 8 May 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  14. Marc Leras and Dominique Vidalon (April 1, 2017), Macron throws electoral net wide, meeting Sarkozy's man in the south Reuters.
  15. Amar Toor (2016-08-25). "French official threatens to sue social media users who share burkini photos". The Verge.
  16. Press release from Deputy Mayor of Nice, 24 August 2016
  17. Peine de mort : Christian Estrosi se « déteste Le Point, December 1, 2017.
  18. Gilbert Reilhac and Elizabeth Miles (June 15, 2017), EU parliament strips Le Pen of immunity in defamation case Reuters.
  19. Dominique Estrosi Sassone: Official biography Archived 2015-02-04 at the Wayback Machine
  20. Olivier Bertrand, Nice : l’ex-femme d’Estrosi contre l’ex-maire, Libération, 14 March 2011.
  21. Eric Gaillard and Sudip Kar-Gupta (March 20, 2020), France's Nice city to close Promenade des Anglais over coronavirus Reuters.

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