Félix Ciccolini (1916–2010) was a French politician. He was the

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 a ...

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

from 1967 to 1978 and a member of the

Senate of France The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' a ...

for the

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and large ...

from 1971 to 1989.

Biography

Early life

Félix Ciccolini was born on 2 October 1916 in

Cozzano Cozzano (; co, Cuzzà) is a Communes of France, commune in the Corse-du-Sud Departments of France, department of France on the island of Corsica. Population See also *Communes of the Corse-du-Sud department References

Communes ...

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

.French Senate
/ref>
''

La Provence ''La Provence'' is a French language daily newspaper published in Marseille, France. History and profile In 1997 ''La Provence'' was created in Marseille from the merger of two daily newspapers, '' Le Provençal'' of former Interior Minister Ga ...

'', 1 May 2010 He studied law.

Career

He started working as a lawyer in Aix-en-Provence in 1938. He joined the

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was found ...

and later the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

. He became a city councillor of Aix in 1953. From 1964 to 1988, he served on the general council of Aix-Nord. He was mayor of Aix-en-Provence from 1967 to 1978."Aix : Félix Ciccolini, mort d'un bâtisseur"
''La Provence'', 2 May 2010 During his tenure, he oversaw the growth of the town, due in large part to the return to the homeland of former inhabitants of colonial

French Algeria French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...

and the ''

harki ''Harki'' (adjective from the Arabic ''harka'', standard Arabic ''haraka'' حركة, "war party" or "movement", i.e., a group of volunteers, especially soldiers) is the generic term for native Muslim Algerian who served as auxiliaries in the F ...

s'' after the independence of

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. For example, he commissioned the construction of a new neighbourhood, the ''Jas de Bouffan'', where 12,000 new inhabitants moved in the 1970s, and another neighbourhood, closer to the city centre, called ''Encagnane''. Additionally, he was a senator for the Bouches-du-Rhône from 1971 to 1989. He called for an increase in prison staff. He supported the repeal of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

in 1981. He denounced the

Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française L'Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF; ) was the national agency charged, between 1964 and 1975, with providing public radio and television in France. All programming, and especially news broadcasts, were under strict control ...

for being too monopolistic and thus a threat to democracy, and called for a plurality of radio and television media. On 13 February 1979, he sent an open letter to

Jean François-Poncet Jean François-Poncet (; 8 December 1928 – 18 July 2012) was a French politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing from 1978 to 1981. From 1983 until 2011, he was a member of t ...

(1928–2012), the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, to ask him to call for a release of French citizens who were kidnapped in Algeria shortly after the

Évian Accords The Évian Accords were a set of peace treaties signed on 18 March 1962 in Évian-les-Bains, France, by France and the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic, the government-in-exile of FLN (), which sought Algeria's independence ...

of 1962. Moreover, he voted in favour of lowering the

age of majority The age of majority is the threshold of legal adulthood as recognized or declared in law. It is the moment when minors cease to be considered such and assume legal control over their persons, actions, and decisions, thus terminating the contr ...

from 21 to 18 in 1974, the legalization of abortion in 1975, and a reform to facilitate divorce, also in 1975. Even though he supported

Gaston Defferre Gaston Defferre (14 September 1910 – 7 May 1986) was a French Socialist politician. He served as mayor of Marseille for 33 years until his death in 1986. He was minister for overseas territories in Guy Mollet’s socialist government in 1956� ...

(1910–1986), he voted for

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...

in 1974. In 1996, he wrote a book about the village where he was born, Cozzano.

Personal life

He died on 1 May 2010 in

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French: ; it, Aiaccio or ; co, Aiacciu , locally: ; la, Adiacium) is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the ''Collectivité territoriale de Corse'' (capital city of Corsica). ...

, Corsica. He was buried in the family plot of the Cozzano cemetery.

Bibliography

* Félix Ciccolini, ''Histoire de Cozzano: 1800–1935: Le Haut-Taravo'' (A. Piazzola, 1996, 263 pages).''Histoire de Cozzano''
at Google Books

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ciccolini, Felix 1916 births 2010 deaths People from Corse-du-Sud French Section of the Workers' International politicians Socialist Party (France) politicians French senators of the Fifth Republic Mayors of Aix-en-Provence French city councillors 20th-century French lawyers Senators of Bouches-du-Rhône