"I want to restore order in the streets and in the accounts": officially a candidate in Nice, Eric Ciotti details his project

"I want to become mayor of all the people of Nice." Éric Ciotti officially announced his candidacy for the municipal elections in France's fifth-largest city in the elections of March 15 and 22, 2026, during a live broadcast from Place Saint-Roch in Nice at the end of the TF1 1 p.m. news.

The Alpes-Maritimes MP and president of the UDR (Union of the Right for the Republic) accompanied the candidacy announcement with the slogan "the best is yet to come" and a twenty-page "Letter to the People of Nice" detailing his approach. It has been available since Wednesday on his website ciotti2026.fr and social media. It will be distributed to the people of Nice starting this Thursday morning. The duel between current mayor Christian Estrosi, running for a fourth term, and Éric Ciotti is officially underway. A battle that will be among the most watched nationally.

You hesitated to run in 2020. What is driving you to run for mayor of Nice in 2026 this time?

I thought, at the time, that the time had not come to open this debate head-on. The political situation was different. With Christian Estrosi, we belonged to the same political family, even if, in reality, while remaining in LR, he had shifted to the Macronist camp since 2017. I wanted to give perhaps one last chance to repair certain errors. But above all, I would say that the last mandate of the three that Christian Estrosi held was one of budgetary slippage, of headlong rush. It was the mandate for the destruction of public facilities (Acropolis, the theater, the bowling alley, the cinematheque), the cost of which I estimate at 500 million euros, which was financed by the taxes of the people of Nice. It is the mark of a power that no longer has limits, no safeguards. It is also a form of drift into personal power, which has led to the cult of the supreme being replacing a policy of proximity, solidarity, fraternity, listening, and humility with the people of Nice.

You are addressing a letter to the people of Nice. Why this format? What are you telling them?

I want to be the candidate who brings people together to be close to Nice. That's why I want this direct connection with them, without intermediaries, without advertising pages, without communication brochures. There was a mayor who destroyed. I want to be the candidate who builds and who builds new hope. In the letter, I formulate new proposals.

What are your priorities for Nice?

Restoring security, respecting the people of Nice's money, acting for local communities, driving genuine economic development, having a responsible environmental policy, promoting and making Nice a cultural beacon again. This involves the National Theatre of Nice at the Gare du Sud, a new convention and exhibition center, a new prison, and doubling the municipal police force. I am committed to eliminating the last 20% property tax increase, which took place in the fall of 2024. These are concrete proposals, proposals for free parking for two hours, an air conditioning plan for schools, and a plan to develop daycare centers for families.

If you are elected, which measures of Christian Estrosi will you cancel at the beginning of your term?

Cancel the last 20% property tax increase.

You've built your reputation on a national narrative of toughness and budget cuts. How can you translate this narrative locally?

Restoring order on the streets and in the accounts will be the guiding principle of my campaign. It's completely compatible. We've done it in the Department. We've paid off our debt, we've lowered the departmental property tax twice, and we've continued to invest. When you manage public money well and don't waste it, you succeed. This is the policy I want to pursue. Naturally, I'm running for mayor of Nice, but also for president of the Métropole. Today, the bulk of the skills needed to change the lives of the people of Nice are in the Métropole.

You want to lower taxes. How will you finance municipal projects in a city you say is heavily indebted?

There are management savings that will have to be made. We have done this in the department without the quality of service being affected. Major events that cost millions, even tens of millions of euros repeatedly for a single day will no longer be my priority. Not to mention the waste of 10 to 15 million euros to finance a Formula 1 Grand Prix, millions of euros to finance TV shows, all of that will be abandoned.

How do you plan to bring together a municipal team when the right wing in Nice is fragmented?

My list is largely already formed. It is a list of men and women that I will choose based on their talent, their competence, their roots, beyond political labels. Nevertheless, I am a man of the right and I am a man who wants the union of the right. The time has not come to announce names. But there will naturally be the Nice parliamentarians, the two Nice deputies [Christelle d'Intorni and Bernard Chaix] and the European deputy [Laurent Castillo]. They embody a legitimacy that is the most recent.

What place do you give to local alliances, particularly with the RN?

All men and women of good will who support me will have their place on this list. There will obviously be people from the National Rally. There is no agreement; things happen naturally.

How will you reconcile your responsibilities as a deputy and president of the UDR with a local campaign?

We will have six months of campaigning. I will, as I always have, balance my local and national responsibilities over the next six months. And of course, when I become mayor of Nice, I will step down from my mandate in the National Assembly.

If the government falls and the National Assembly is dissolved again, will you give up the first constituency that you have held for 18 years?

On September 8, I will vote without hesitation against this government. Both against the Prime Minister and against the President of the Republic who appointed him. After all, I am not Madame Irma. It would be very clever of anyone to know what Emmanuel Macron will do. What I hope is for him to resign and give the people their say again. I am not sure he has the stature or the courage that General de Gaulle had.

If early parliamentary elections are held, they will take place before the municipal elections. Have you already thought about what you will do?

If this is the case, I will take responsibility for ensuring that we have an alternation at the national level.

So you will be running again in the 1st constituency?

Today, I am a candidate in the municipal elections in Nice. And if the people of Nice have their trust in me, which I am certain they will, I will be the full-time mayor of all the people of Nice.

What does Nice represent for you personally and politically?

Nice is my city. It's where I was born. It's my personal and family roots. It's my land. It's my childhood. It's my schooling. It's my university education. It's my friends, my family. And then, politically, it's Nice that has given me everything. I won my first elected office from the people of Nice in 2007.

What city do you want to leave to the people of Nice in 2032, at the end of a possible mandate?

I want to leave a more fraternal city, where the people of Nice flourish, where our elders live happily with the certainty that their children and grandchildren will live happily. I want to reestablish a close bond with the people of Nice, so that they are the central objective of my policy. We want to preserve their purchasing power, and therefore their money. We want them to have the public services they deserve.