Éric Ciotti (, ; born 28 September 1965) is a French politician who has represented the 1st constituency of

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a Departments of France, department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the France–Italy border, Italian border and Mediterranean Sea, Mediter ...

in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

since

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

and is the president of The Republicans since 2022. Ciotti previously briefly served as First Deputy Mayor of

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

under Mayor

Christian Estrosi Christian Paul Gilbert Estrosi (born 1 July 1955) is a French sportsman and politician who has served as Mayor of Nice since 2017, previously holding the office from 2008 to 2016. A former professional motorcyclist, he served as a government min ...

in 2008, before he assumed the presidency of the Departmental Council of

from 2008 to 2017. A member of The Republicans (LR), he sought the party's nomination for the 2022 presidential election at its 2021 congress; he placed first in the first round of voting but was defeated by

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 ...

in the second round. In December 2022, he was elected president of The Republicans, placing first in the first round and winning the second round against Bruno Retailleau.

Political career

Early career in local politics

Ciotti was elected to the General Council of Alpes-Maritimes in 2008 in

Saint-Martin-Vésubie Saint-Martin-Vésubie (; Vivaro-Alpine: ''Sant Martin de Lantosca'') is a commune of the Alpes-Maritimes department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. Established on the edge of a glacial plate, it had a population of 1 ...

following the resignation of incumbent councillor Gaston Franco. He was elected by his peers to the body's presidency the same year, succeeding Nice Mayor

. Ciotti had previously failed to be elected in the canton of Nice-1 in the 2008 cantonal election, having been defeated by incumbent Socialist Marc Concas. Following the 2015 departmental election, in which he was elected in

Tourrette-Levens Tourrette-Levens (; oc, Torreta de Levens) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. Population Tourism Tourrette-Levens is one of sixteen villages grouped together by the Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur tourist ...

, the Departmental Council of Alpes-Maritimes replaced the General Council of Alpes-Maritimes. After the adoption of a new law organising ''

cumul des mandats A dual mandate is the practice in which elected officials serve in more than one elected or other public position simultaneously. This practice is sometimes known as double jobbing in Britain and ''cumul des mandats'' in France; not to be confused ...

'' restrictions, Ciotti resigned the presidency in 2017 while keeping his councillor mandate.

Member of the National Assembly, 2007–present

Ciotti was elected to the National Assembly during the 2007 election; he was reelected in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. In parliament, Ciotti has been serving on the Committee on Legal Affairs since 2007. Since 2017, he has also been a

quaestor A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...

and therefore part of the Assembly's Bureau in the

15th legislature of the French Fifth Republic The 15th legislature of the French Fifth Republic (french: XVe législature de la Cinquième République française) was the French Parliament that was in office from 27 June 2017 (following the legislative elections on 11 and 18 June 2017) unt ...

, under the leadership of president

Richard Ferrand Richard Ferrand (; born 1 July 1962) is a French politician of La République En Marche! (LREM) who served as President of the National Assembly from 2018 to 2022. He had served as a member of the National Assembly for Finistère's 6th consti ...

. He recently recognized having had an affair with

Nadine Morano Nadine Morano (; born 6 November 1963 in Nancy) is a French politician of the Republicans who has been serving as Member of the European Parliament since 2014. She previously was a member of the National Assembly and a minister. Early life Mor ...

while in office. Ahead of the UMP's 2012 leadership election, Ciotti managed

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 Unio ...

's campaign. When Fillon's opponent

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 ...

eventually won, Ciotti was one of more than 50 party members who threatened to form a new centre-right caucus within the UMP parliamentary group under the leadership of Fillon. In September 2014, Ciotti joined Fillon,

Étienne Blanc Étienne Blanc (born 29 August 1954) is a French politician who has served as a Senator for Rhône since 2020. A member of The Republicans (LR), he previously served as Mayor of Divonne-les-Bains (1991–2019) and represented the 3rd constituen ...

Pierre Lellouche Pierre Lellouche (born 3 May 1951) is a French lawyer and politician of the Republicans who served as Secretary of State for Foreign Trade under the Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry Christine Lagarde in the government of Prime Minist ...

and

on an official trip to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. Ahead of the Republicans' 2016 primaries, Ciotti managed former President

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Sei ...

's campaign for the presidential nomination, alongside Catherine Vautrin. Also in 2016, he formally requested that prosecutors investigate President

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle f ...

over a potential breach of security allowing revelations that Hollande disclosed classified information to journalists. Amid the Fillon affair, Ciotti succeeded

Gérald Darmanin Gérald Moussa Darmanin (; born 11 October 1982) is a French politician who has been serving as Minister of the Interior in the governments of Prime Ministers Jean Castex and Élisabeth Borne since 2020. A former member of The Republicans (LR) ...

as deputy of the Republicans' secretary general

Bernard Accoyer Bernard Accoyer (, born 12 August 1945 in Lyon) is a French politician who was President of the National Assembly of France from 2007 to 2012. He was also the Mayor of Annecy-le-Vieux.2017 presidential election. When magistrates put Fillon under formal investigation on suspicion of embezzling state funds, Ciotti publicly state "I trust and support Francois Fillon more than ever". When Fillon called on members to vote for

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017 French presidential election, 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, M ...

in the second round of the election against

Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022. A member of the National Rally (RN; previously the National Front, FN), she served as its p ...

, Ciotti refused to endorse Macron. In The Republicans' 2017 leadership election, Ciotti endorsed

Laurent Wauquiez Laurent Timothée Marie Wauquiez (; born 12 April 1975) is a French politician who has presided over the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes since 2016. He is a member of The Republicans (LR), which he led from 2017 to 2019 following the ...

. In 2018, Wauquiez included him in his shadow cabinet; in this capacity, he served as opposition counterpart to

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 ...

Christophe Castaner Christophe Castaner (; born 3 January 1966) is a French politician, former minister of parliament, and former Minister of the Interior from 16 October 2018 to 6 July 2020. In 2017, he was elected for a 3 year term as chairman (''délégué géné ...

. In 2020, Ciotti became the Parliament's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

on how the government handled the

COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. ...

. In 2021, Ciotti announced his intention to run as The Republicans's candidate in the 2022 presidential election. Ciotti narrowly placed first at the

2021 The Republicans congress The 2021 The Republicans (LR) congress, also known as the Congress for France (French: ''Congrès pour la France''), was an organised internal primary held from 1 to 4 December. It was organised by the party in order to nominate the candidate tha ...

and proceeded to the primary second round, in which he was defeated by

Founding of “The Right” movement, 2021–present

À DROITE! (ÀD!), also called Droits, (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

: ''To the Right!''), is a French movement within The Republicans. The movement was founded by Ciotti during the 2021 The Republicans congress.

Leader of The Republicans, 2022–present

Ciotti was elected with 53.7% of the votes against his main opponent, Bruno Retailleau, who received 46.3% to become the next leader of The Republicans. He ruled out a formal alliance with Macron's minority government in parliament, although he was open to negotiate a pension reform.

Political positions

Ciotti has largely been described as

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, autho ...

and of belonging in the populist faction of The Republicans.

Domestic policy

In 2019, Ciotti successfully added an amendment to an education bill to make it mandatory for classrooms to display both a French and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

flag in all classrooms. In 2020, Ciotti proposed a bill to the

which would prohibit the dissemination of images depicting functions of the national police, municipal police, military and customs officers; with a maximum penalty of 15,000 euros and a year in prison for violators. For the ''

Marianne Marianne () has been the national personification of the France, French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of Liberté, égalité, fraternité, liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Liber ...

'' magazine, Éric Ciotti joined

's positions on security, identity, immigration and Islamism, sharing with her "an ethnic and identity-based vision of the nation". He thus proposes to change the nationality code in order to abolish the ''

jus soli ''Jus soli'' ( , , ; meaning "right of soil"), commonly referred to as birthright citizenship, is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. ''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contra ...

'' in favour of the ''

jus sanguinis ( , , ; 'right of blood') is a principle of nationality law by which citizenship is determined or acquired by the nationality or ethnicity of one or both parents. Children at birth may be citizens of a particular state if either or both of t ...

'' alone, to include in the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

"our Christian origins", as well as to accentuate security policies (creation of 100,000 additional prison places, lowering of the criminal majority to 16 years, suppression of family allowances to "parents of children who do not respect the values of the Republic"). He seems to adhere to the

Great Replacement The Great Replacement (french: links=no, Grand Remplacement), also known as replacement theory or great replacement theory, is a white nationalist far-right conspiracy theoryPT71 disseminated by French author Renaud Camus. The original the ...

theory; in 2021, he stated "our society is changing, if we have to talk about 'great replacement', I talk about 'replacement'". In 2021, he stated that "what differentiates he Republicansfrom the

National Rally The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: * ...

is our capacity to govern. In the face of Islamic terrorism, he advocated the creation of a "French-style Guantanamo", where Camembert cheese would be used to re-educate, and the adoption of "specially adapted laws, like the

Patriot Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...

in the United States. In September of 2021, Ciotti declared that if the second round of the French presidential election ended up being between

and

Éric Zemmour Éric Justin Léon Zemmour (; born 31 August 1958) is a French far-right politician, essayist, writer and former political journalist and pundit. He was an editor and panelist on ''Face à l'Info'', a daily show broadcast on CNews, from 2019 to ...

, he would vote for the latter. On economic issues, he defends, as part of his candidacy for the primary of his party for the presidential election of 2022, the elimination of 250,000 positions in the

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

, the return to 39 hours as the legal duration of

working time Working(laboring) time is the period of time that a person spends at paid labor. Unpaid labor such as personal housework or caring for children or pets is not considered part of the working week. Many countries regulate the work week by law ...

, raising the retirement age to 65, the lowering of

corporate taxes A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax, is a direct tax imposed on the income or capital of corporations or analogous legal entities. Many countries impose such taxes at the national level, and a similar tax may be imposed ...

, the abolition of

inheritance tax An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an e ...

as well as the reduction of

unemployment benefits Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...

and

social assistance Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

Foreign policy

During his presidential campaign in 2021, Ciotti argued that France should reassert itself by leaving

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

's integrated command. He claims an "immense admiration" for the state of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and wants the recognition of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

as the unified capital of that country, as well as the transfer of the French embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in order to "break with a form of diplomatic tradition that is globally pro-Arab" of France.

Other activities

* French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA), Member of the Board of DirectorsBoard of Directors
French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ciotti, Eric 1965 births Living people 21st-century French politicians French people of Italian descent Union for a Popular Movement politicians The Republicans (France) politicians Sciences Po alumni People from Nice Right-wing populism in France Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Departmental councillors (France) Presidents of French departments