Court suspends Christian Estrosi's order restricting cruise ships near Nice

The Nice administrative court, seized by the Alpes-Maritime prefect, suspended on Sunday a decree issued by Christian Estrosi seeking to limit stopovers by giant cruise ships near Nice, ruling that this was not within its jurisdiction.

The mayor of Nice, who acted as president of the Nice Côte d'Azur metropolitan area, is "not competent to enact such measures" and only the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes can "within the framework of his powers of policing the waterway, organize the entries, exits and movements of vessels," the administrative court explained in a press release.

After announcing a ban on larger cruise ships in the bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer, near Nice, at the end of January, Christian Estrosi backed down at the end of February. But on Wednesday, he issued a new decree limiting the number of ships with more than 2,500 passengers to 65 per year in Villefranche and prohibiting stopovers by ships with more than 450 passengers at the Nice port, which already accommodates only the smallest, often the most luxurious, ships.

He justified this order by citing "the climate emergency, the protection of marine biodiversity, the promotion of sustainable tourism, and the protection of heritage." The prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes referred the matter to the administrative court on Thursday, stating in a statement that the order was "tainted by several illegalities and likely to compromise the exercise of a public or individual freedom."

The management of stopovers - from anchoring to disembarkation of passengers on excursions in ports - is a shared responsibility between the prefecture, maritime prefecture, mainland France and the department, the prefecture explained on Friday.

During a round table discussion held at the prefecture on Friday, representatives from the economic, maritime and political worlds agreed to launch a consultation starting in September on the conditions for welcoming cruise ships.

On Sunday, reacting to the order of the Nice administrative court, Christian Estrosi stressed in a statement the need to "protect the health of residents." "If no administrative police measures are enacted within a reasonable timeframe to prevent the harmful effects" of mega-cruises, the metropolis "will hold the State liable before the administrative court for negligent failure," he warned.

Eric Ciotti , president of the UDR and Estrosi's likely rival for the Nice mayoralty next year, mocked his opponent's attitude on X: "Should we see this as a new demonstration of the incompetence of an elected official adrift, or simply a frantic quest for buzz for the sake of buzz? Probably a bit of both."

According to the metropolis, the decree, which was due to come into force on Friday, was to affect 12 ship calls with a cumulative capacity of more than 38,000 passengers among those planned until the end of 2025 in the Villefranche harbor, and 53 calls with a total cumulative capacity of more than 200,000 passengers, out of a total of 131 already reserved.

The next ship, with more than 2,500 passengers expected, is the Celebrity Equinox, which spent Sunday in Portofino (Italy) and was scheduled for Monday morning in the Villefranche harbor.