Estrosi backs down on mayor comments

THE MAYOR of Nice, Christian Estrosi, has had to clarify comments he made in an interview in which he appeared to suggest fining “lax” mayors.

The suggestion, made in the Journal du Dimanche last weekend was condemned by politicians on both left and right as well as the French local government association, the Association des Maires de France.

Estrosi, who is also the industry minister, told the paper that local authorities that failed to tackle crime and ensure people’s security should be “fined very heavily”.

He said mayors were at “the centre” of the fight against crime, but in practice their approach to the problem varied greatly from one place to the other.

The mayors of Grenoble and Lyon were among those who spoke out against Estrosi’s comments. They said mayors were being made scapegoats for a much wider problem.

Writing on his blog last night, Estrosi said his comments had been misinterpreted and he had not meant to stigmatise individual mayors.

He said he wanted to stress the importance of mayors and the State working together on security issues, with both sides having an important role to play.

“It was obviously never my intention to punish mayors,” he wrote.

“I simply suggested the idea of penalties for local authorities that refuse to apply the law and do not make use of the means made available to them by the government to fight delinquency.”

He added: “As the mayor of France’s fifth biggest city, I have a duty to put forward proposals and start debates. I have started a debate, to say the least.”

Photo: Olivier Ezratty. Licensed under Creative Commons