Christian Paul Gilbert Estrosi (born 1 July 1955) is a French sportsman and politician who has served as

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

since 2017, previously holding the office from 2008 to 2016. A former professional motorcyclist, he served as a government minister under Presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. Estrosi also served as President of the

Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur The Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ( French: ''Conseil régional de Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur'') is the deliberative assembly of the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The regional council is made up of 123 regional c ...

from 2015 to 2017 and First Deputy Mayor of

from 2016 until 2017. He is a former member of The Republicans, which he left in 2021 to join Horizons.

Early life

Estrosi was born on 1 July 1955 in Nice.National Assembly webpage
/ref> His grandparents were immigrants from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Motorcycle racing

Estrosi was a professional

motorcycle racer Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Oth ...

and competed at the world championship level in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

. His best result was a fourth-place finish in the 1978 500cc French Grand Prix. He repeated this result in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

with a fourth place at the 1979 250cc Spanish Grand Prix. He received the Youth and Sports gold medal.

Political career

Early beginnings

Estrosi was a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

of Nice from 1983 to 1990, when he resigned.

Career in national politics

Estrosi served as a member of the National Assembly of France for the 5th constituency of Alpes-Maritimes from

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, then from

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

to 2005, from 2008 to 2009, then from 2010 to 2016. In 1993, he briefly served as the MP for the department's 2nd constituency but his election was ruled invalid. In Parliament, he served on the Committee on Cultural Affairs (1998–1993, 1996–2002), the Committee on Finance (2012–2016) and the Committee on Legal Affairs (2002–2005, 2008–2012). In addition, Estrosi held several ministerial positions in the national government in Paris. He was appointed on 2 June 2005 as Deputy Minister of Spatial Planning in the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Dominique de Villepin Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac. In his career working at the Ministry ...

, serving under

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Nicolas Sarkozy. He was then appointed on 19 June 2007 as Secretary of State for the Overseas French territories (DOM-TOM), this time serving under

Michèle Alliot-Marie Michèle Yvette Marie-Thérèse Jeanne Honorine Alliot-Marie (; born 10 September 1946), known in France as MAM, is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from France. She is a member of the Republicans, part of the Eu ...

. From 2009 to 2010, he served as Deputy Minister of Industry. During his time in office, he was widely seen as a close ally of Sarkozy.

Career in municipal politics

Estrosi was a regional councillor of

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pref ...

from 1992 to 2002 and served as a regional council vice president from 1992 to 1998 under the presidency of Jean-Claude Gaudin. He later served as one of the vice presidents of the General Council of Alpes-Maritimes from 2001 to 2003 and as its president from 2003 to 2008. He was first elected a general councillor in the canton of Nice-8 in 1985. Estrosi was reelected to the municipal council of Nice in the 2008 election, when he was also elected

of Nice. In addition, he has served as president of the

Urban community of Nice Côte d'Azur The Urban community of Nice Côte d'Azur ( French: ''communauté urbaine Nice Côte d'Azur''), is the former intercommunal structure gathering the city of Nice (France) and some of its suburbs. It was created in December 2008.

from 2008 and president of Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur since 2012. In 2013, he rejected a plan to build a mosque funded by a businessman from Saudi Arabia in Nice. As part of a reorganization of the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right List of political parties in France, political party in France that was one of the two major party, major contemporary political pa ...

(later Republicans) leadership under their chairman

Jean-François Copé Jean-François Copé (; born 5 May 1964) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Meaux since 1995 with an interruption from 2002 to 2005. He was Government Spokesman between 2002 and 2007, when assumed other tenures in the government—inclu ...

in January 2013, Estrosi became – alongside Henri de Raincourt, Jean-Claude Gaudin,

Brice Hortefeux Brice Hortefeux (born 11 May 1958) is a conservative French politician. He was Minister of the Interior, Overseas Territories and Territorial collectivities. He was previously Minister for Labour, Labour Relations, the Family, Solidarity and Ur ...

, Roger Karoutchi and

Gérard Longuet Gérard Longuet (; born 24 February 1946 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine) is a French conservative politician who has served as a member of the Senate from 2001 to 2011 and again since 2012, representing Meuse. He served as Minister of ...

– one of the party’s six vice-presidents. Ahead of the UMP's leadership election in 2014, he led a group supporting Nicolas Sarkozy as the party's leader. In The Republicans 2016 primary, Estrosi also endorsed Sarkozy as the party's candidate for the 2017 presidential election. Ten months ahead of the election, he and other local conservatives aggressively criticised

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

Bernard Cazeneuve Bernard Guy Georges Cazeneuve (; born 2 June 1963) is a French politician and lawyer who served as Prime Minister of France from 6 December 2016 to 15 May 2017. A member of the Socialist Party, he represented Manche’s 5th constituency in the ...

for the lack of strength of the

National Police National Police may refer to the national police forces of several countries: *Afghanistan: Afghan National Police *Haiti: Haitian National Police *Colombia: National Police of Colombia *Cuba: Cuban National Police *East Timor: National Police of ...

force presence on the night the

2016 Nice truck attack On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19-tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and the injury of 458 others. The dri ...

. Amid the Fillon affair, in March 2017, Estrosi joined

Xavier Bertrand Xavier Bertrand (; born 21 March 1965) is a French politician who has been serving as president of the regional council of Hauts-de-France since the 2015 regional elections. Earlier in his career, Bertrand was Minister of Health from 2005 to ...

Valérie Pécresse Valérie Pécresse (; born Roux, 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has served as President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015. A member of The Republicans (LR), she previously served as Minister of Higher Education and ...

and others in calling for

Alain Juppé Alain Marie Juppé (; born 15 August 1945) is a French politician. A member of The Republicans (France), The Republicans, he was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced 1995 strikes ...

to replace

François Fillon François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union ...

as the party's candidate. Also, he met with Emmanuel Macron during his campaign. On 8 May 2017, the day after the second round of the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

, Estrosi announced his resignation from the presidency of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur to become Mayor of Nice again, succeeding his former first deputy, Philippe Pradal. Estrosi is still managing the region as one of Regional Council President Renaud Muselier's vice presidents. Overseeing the local authorities' response to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Estrosi called in early 2021 for a weekend lockdown in the area to reduce the flow of tourists; at the time, Nice had a level of COVID-19 infections triple the national rate. In 2021, Estrosi left The Republicans to join

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), Mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 2020 ...

's Horizons party, after

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

Mayor

Hubert Falco Hubert Falco (born 15 May 1947 in Pignans, Var) is a French politician who has been appointed Secretary of State for development of the territory in the government of François Fillon on 18 March 2008. He is the mayor of Toulon Toulon (, ...

. Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regional Council President Renaud Muselier also left The Republicans that year, marking a loss of elected officials in the area for the party. ''

L'Obs (), previously known as (1964–2014), is a weekly French news magazine. Based in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, it is the most prominent French general information magazine in terms of audience and circulation. Its current editor is Cécil ...

'' nicknamed the three politicians the "infernal trio of the Provençal right".

Other activities

* Chorégies d'Orange, Member of the Board of Directors

Political positions

Estrosi was among conservative politicians in France who backed calls for a ban on the body-covering

burkini A burkini (or burqini; portmanteau of burqa and bikini, though qualifying as neither of these garments) is a style of swimsuit for women. The suit covers the whole body except the face, the hands and the feet, while being light enough for swimm ...

swimsuit that some Muslim women wear on the beach, which was later invalidated by French courts. In 2016, he threatened to sue people who distributed photographs of an incident in which Nice police ordered a Muslim woman to remove her burkini, saying that circulating the photographs would "provoke defamatory remarks and threats against police agents". In 2017, Estrosi distanced himself from his earlier decision to vote in favour of an unsuccessful 1988 bill on the reinstatement of the death penalty.

Recognition

Estrosi is the recipient of a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming ...

in Israel. He is a Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

from the French Republic, an Officer of the

Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland The Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Order Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) is a Polish order of merit created in 1974, awarded to persons who have rendered great service to Poland. It is granted to foreigners or Poles resident a ...

, and a Commander of the

Order of Saint-Charles The Order of Saint Charles (french: Ordre de Saint Charles) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in Monaco on 15 March 1858. Award This order rewards service to the State or Prince. In particular cases, it may be granted to foreign ...

from

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

Controversy

In 2017, Estrosi filed a defamation suit against Marine Le Pen for accusing him of being in league with Islamist militants; as a consequence, the European Parliament lifted Le Pen’s

immunity from prosecution Legal immunity, or immunity from prosecution, is a legal status wherein an individual or entity cannot be held liable for a violation of the law, in order to facilitate societal aims that outweigh the value of imposing liability in such cases. Su ...

Personal life

Estrosi was married to Dominique Sassone, daughter of Jean Sassone (1931–2006), who served as Deputy Mayor of Nice from 1977 to 1998.Dominique Estrosi Sassone: Official biography
Olivier Bertrand
Nice : l’ex-femme d’Estrosi contre l’ex-maire
'' Libération'', 14 March 2011. Early on during the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Estrosi tested positive for the

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

virus.Eric Gaillard and Sudip Kar-Gupta (20 March 2020)
France's Nice city to close Promenade des Anglais over coronavirus
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estrosi, Christian 1955 births Living people 250cc World Championship riders 350cc World Championship riders 500cc World Championship riders Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Commanders of the Order of Saint-Charles Deputies of the 9th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 10th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 11th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Presidents of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Members of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur French motorcycle racers French sportsperson-politicians French people of Italian descent Mayors of Nice Sportspeople from Nice· Politicians from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Rally for the Republic politicians Union for a Popular Movement politicians The Republicans (France) politicians Horizons politicians French city councillors Regional councillors of France Presidents of French regions and overseas collectivities Presidents of French departments Government ministers of France Secretaries of State of France 20th-century French politicians 21st-century French politicians