"Come home!": Eric Ciotti, candidate for mayor of Nice in 2026, calls on Les Républicains to join him

At 1:30 p.m. at the Grand Pré in Levens, Éric Ciotti, Nice MP and head of the UDR, takes the stage to the sound of the hit "Freed from Desire." Facing him are 3,500 guests gathered for his political comeback. He is joined by UDR MPs from the Alpes-Maritimes, Bernard Chaix and Christelle d'Intorni, and from other departments, RN MPs from the Côte d'Azur, Bryan Masson, Alexandra Masson, and Lionel Tivoli, and his close supporters, departmental and metropolitan councilors, and MEP Laurent Castillo.

Christelle d'Intorni had set the tone a few minutes earlier. "I dream of a well-managed city, of an inverted tax curve. I dream of a courageous mayor who wouldn't need to call on a vulgar Marseille jerk." Hitting back, she referred to the intervention of Regional President Renaud Muselier, who is close to Christian Estrosi. During the mayor of Nice's political return on Friday, he compared Éric Ciotti to "a little guy who gesticulates."

"My friends, you are my strength, my energy. Seeing you, I want to take on every challenge, for France, for Nice," began Éric Ciotti in front of a group of guests wearing straw hats or yellow and blue caps, waving tricolor flags.

France first. "It's in bad shape, very bad," summarized the president of the UDR group in the National Assembly. On September 8, "I will not vote for confidence in Mr. Bayrou," he reiterated. "For all of his work and for leading this policy of decline and renunciation today. I will also not vote for confidence in Mr. Macron," "the worst president of the Fifth Republic," according to him.

"Come home"

"The right is in the majority. What are we waiting for to unite?" he said, before claiming his choice of alliance with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella as a strategic choice.

"I appeal to all those who hesitated last year. I say to my Republican friends: do not vote for confidence on September 8th. Do not join. And I send them this message from the bottom of my heart: come back home! It is here, in the UDR, that we find these right-wing values ​​that are the heirs of Gaullism."

The UDR leader is certain: "There is only one solution to emerge from the crisis: for Emmanuel Macron to resign and for us to elect a strong President of the Republic. And if he does not want to resign, then he should dissolve the National Assembly. My friends and I are ready to take on this challenge with conviction."

"Me, mayor of Nice..."

This political return had a special flavor. For the first time, Éric Ciotti officially declared his candidacy for the 2026 municipal elections. It was Wednesday. "Yes, friends, I am a candidate to become mayor of Nice. And I am a candidate to become president of the Nice Côte d'Azur metropolitan area," he confirmed, promising a "dignified" campaign, "without backstabbing."

Facing Christian Estrosi, the current mayor whom he accuses of having "made Nice and its metropolis the most indebted in France", Eric Ciotti multiplied his promises, preceded by "I am mayor of Nice", an anaphora borrowed from... François Hollande: "I will cancel the 25% increase in property tax, I will double the municipal police force, I will demand a new prison, I will introduce two hours of free parking" or even "I will remove this hideous lion" from Place Garibaldi (1)...

Tribute to Jacques Médecin

"I will not destroy public buildings. Facilities that were built by a mayor to whom I want to pay tribute: Jacques Médecin," he reiterated. He cited the Acropolis, the Nice theater, the cinematheque, the bowling alley, "perhaps Jean-Bouin (2)." "Thanks to Martine (Jacques Médecin's daughter) for being there."

"We will take this fight to Nice, and to Cagnes-sur-Mer too, dear Bryan," he added, addressing his ally, RN MP Bryan Masson, who is likely to run in Cagnes-sur-Mer against Louis Nègre, but who has not (yet?) declared himself a candidate.

Assuring that he is "calm", he invites the mayor of Nice to debate "project against project", and "the people of Nice will choose, as in Marseille, dear Franck (Allisio, RN candidate in the Phocaean city), or in Menton, dear Alexandra (Masson, probable RN candidate)".

"We will win"

"I make you a promise: we will win," he assured his supporters.

Asked by journalists as he left the podium whether the campaign would be peaceful given the state of relations with Christian Estrosi and the judicial investigation opened a few days ago into the affair of the allegedly illicit files, the deputy from the Alpes-Maritimes region stated: "I will fight on the basis of ideas, my convictions, my projects. The rest is not part of the electoral campaign. It is part of the underhanded tactics that are being organized. I will not go down that path."

Ciotti's victory, we sincerely hope for it

Marie and Gérard, retirees from Nice, "hope for Eric Ciotti's victory on March 15 and 22." "We love his frankness and his honesty. He puts the interests of the people of Nice before everything else."

"I have a very small pension from a craftsman. And my husband from a shopkeeper. We pay 4,000 euros in property tax for our house in Saint-Roman-de-Bellet. If this continues, we'll be forced to leave Nice because we won't be able to keep up financially," Marie fears. The retiree is also attracted by the candidate's anti-immigration and security-focused rhetoric.

Gérard believes that Éric Ciotti "is right not to vote for confidence in Bayrou," even if it causes further chaos. "At this point..."

For Quentin, 22, a young UDR member and also a RN member, "Éric Ciotti has every chance of winning. The people of Nice are fed up with Estrosi," he believes. "We want a new impetus. Éric Ciotti is listening to us." On the national level, "he is right not to support Bayrou. We must bang our fists on the table and demand his departure."

Nadia, a 72-year-old resident of Nice, is attending Éric Ciotti's political debut for the first time. "I came to hear what he's proposing for Nice. I'm not yet a member of the UDR, but I will be soon," she adds, impressed by the measures proposed to strengthen the security of the people of Nice.

1. A monumental sculpture by Richard Orlinski.

2. The Jean-Bouin complex which includes a swimming pool, an ice rink and a parking lot.