In the Nice metropolitan area, what is the real purpose of the ethics committee, responsible for combating conflicts of interest?

TEN SHORT MINUTES. That's how long the discussions lasted around the 2024 activity report of the Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolitan Area's ethics officer, which elected officials were supposed to review at the last metropolitan council meeting in May. And yet, it brought its share of questions, raised by opposition council member Jean-Christophe Picard. Starting with the interest elected officials have in this body, a local pioneer.

As early as April 2014, before the 3DS law of 2022 set in stone the fact that "any local elected official can consult an ethics officer", Nice had set up an "independent ethics committee relating to the exercise of the mandates of municipal elected officials" , which was quickly shared with the Metropolis . Three years ago, the body evolved into an ethics college , a group of experts responsible for advising and training elected officials to avoid any conflict of interest.

Chaired by Hervé Expert, former president of the Nice High Court, it brings together retired teachers and magistrates, responsible for ensuring compliance with probity and reporting annually on their activities.

Declarations of interests... shunned by elected officials

At the end of March 2024, a "complementary declaration of interests" campaign was launched among elected officials, both municipal and metropolitan. In the vein of the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life (HATVP) , founded in 2013 in the wake of the Cahuzac affair, it invites male and female politicians to indicate their professional activity, position in governing bodies, financial participation in companies, etc. All to avoid collusion during public decision-making. "Of the 89 elected officials not subject to declaration by the HATVP, only 12 responded. Disappointing," notes Jean-Christophe Picard. An observation shared by Marc Concas, elected member of the majority in charge of presenting the report: "The ethics officer is not there to prevent you from doing your job [but] to secure the community. If you are asked to send him [these declarations] , it is to protect you. Because all ethics-related offenses are said to be formal: the only material element of the offense constituted is enough to qualify it without there even being any guilty intention on the part of the perpetrator," recalled the latter, a lawyer by training. Anonymously, a member of the local ethics college clarified: "The far-right elected officials refuse to do it, some do it because they want to be honest, others do not have the time."

But in terms of integrity, the devil is in the details, even for the mayors of small towns, he reminds us. "Imagine: there's a hunting association in a village. The mayor is a member. The municipality votes a subsidy for this organization. If the mayor doesn't back down during the vote, even if he didn't want to enrich himself, and there was no intention of fraud, the Court of Cassation will condemn him."

The seminar turns into a flop

Proof that the subject is not a source of passion in the metropolitan chamber: a seminar mobilizing Parisian speakers, organized in Nice in December, turned into a fiasco. " A disaster ," complains one member of the college. "We brought people from the HATVP and the French Anti-Corruption Agency. For the elected officials, it was interesting. But once Christian Estrosi opened the day, a large part of the elected officials from the majority left... I think above all they have so much to do that they find it annoying." "There were eighteen of us at the beginning, five at the end, for a subject that is nevertheless essential ," deplores Jean-Christophe Picard. It's a bit paradoxical, given the atmosphere. In 2024, there were 22. Perhaps we should be a little concerned about the subject," adds the elected official for whom "all this is useless and clearly prevents nothing."

"Did I tell you about the A380 I was given?"

Also questioning this point of figures on gifts received by elected officials. "The rule is the refusal of any gift," recalled Marc Concas, specifying that, when it is deemed "protocol," it must be given to the community, which records it . In 2024, only two gifts were recorded. "In Nice alone, there are 32 twinnings, with delegations that meet. I can't believe there were so few," asks Jean-Christophe Picard.

This observation was dismissed with a joke by Christian Estrosi, president of the Métropole, during the meeting: "I don't remember... Did I tell you about the A380 that was given to me?" he quipped. Will the atmosphere be the same this Friday? The metropolitan elected officials are meeting again for a council meeting.