Éric Ciotti ( or , ; born 28 September 1965) is a French politician who led The Republicans (LR) from 2022 to 2024. He has represented Alpes-Maritimes's 1st constituency 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 repr ...

since the 2007 legislative election. Once a member of The Republicans' right-wing, he was seeking to distance the party from

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

's presidency. He left The Republicans in 2024, and is now the leader of the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR) party and

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

. Ciotti briefly served as First Deputy Mayor of

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionChristian Estrosi in 2008, before he assumed the presidency of the Departmental Council of

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; ; ; ) 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, Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'A ...

from 2008 to 2017. He sought the party's nomination for the 2022 presidential election at its 2021 congress; he unexpectedly placed first in the first round of voting, but was defeated by centre-right candidate

Valérie Pécresse Valérie Anne Émilie Pécresse (; Birth name, née Roux ; 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has been the President of the Regional Council (France), President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015. A member of The Republic ...

in the second round. In December 2022, following Pécresse's historic loss in the presidential election, he was elected president of The Republicans, placing first in the first round and winning the second round against Senator

Bruno Retailleau Bruno Daniel Marie Paul Retailleau (; born 20 November 1960) is a French politician who has served as Minister of the Interior (France), Minister of the Interior and Minister of State in the Bayrou government, as well as the preceding Barnier gov ...

, with whom he has worked closely since he took office as leader. In June 2024, after attempting to forge an electoral alliance with the far-right

National Rally The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...

ahead of the

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...

, he was unanimously, though contentiously, removed from his position as president by the party leadership, a move he described as "illegal". On 14 June, a Paris court invalidated the removal of Ciotti from the party presidency. This led to an unprecedented leadership crisis within the party, which culminated in Ciotti creating his own parliamentary group, the UDR, named after his Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR).

Political career

Early career in local politics

Ciotti was elected to the General Council of Alpes-Maritimes in 2008 in Saint-Martin-Vésubie 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 Christian Estrosi. 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 (; ; ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. Climate Population Tourism Tourrette-Levens is one of sixteen villages grouped together by the Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur tourist departmen ...

, the Departmental Council of Alpes-Maritimes replaced the General Council of Alpes-Maritimes. After the adoption of a new law organising '' cumul des mandats'' 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 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

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

quaestor A quaestor ( , ; ; "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 officia ...

and therefore part of the Assembly's Bureau in the 15th legislature of the French Fifth Republic, under the leadership of president Richard Ferrand. He recently recognized having had an affair with Nadine Morano while in office. Ahead of the UMP's 2012 leadership election, Ciotti managed François Fillon's campaign. When Fillon's opponent Jean-François Copé 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, Pierre Lellouche and

on an official trip to

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. Ahead of The Republicans' 2016 primaries, Ciotti managed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign for the presidential nomination, alongside Catherine Vautrin.Anne-Sylvaine Chassany (7 November 2016
French right calls for François Hollande's impeachment
''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

''. 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. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

over a potential breach of security allowing revelations that Hollande disclosed classified information to journalists. Amid the Fillon affair, Ciotti succeeded Gérald Darmanin as deputy of the Republicans' secretary general Bernard Accoyer and subsequently became a vocal defender of Fillon as the party's candidate for the 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

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 of the far-right National Rally, National Rally party (RN). She served as the party's president from 2011 to 2021, and ran for the French presidency in ...

, Ciotti refused to endorse Macron. In The Republicans' 2017 leadership election, Ciotti endorsed Laurent Wauquiez. In 2018, Wauquiez included him in his shadow cabinet; in this capacity, he served as opposition counterpart to Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner. In 2020, Ciotti became the Parliament's rapporteur on how the government handled the COVID-19 pandemic in France. 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 and proceeded to the primary second round, in which he was defeated by

. Ciotti retained his seat in the second round of the

2024 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 30 June and 7 July 2024 (and one day earlier for some voters outside of metropolitan France) to elect all 577 Deputy (France), members of the 17th legislature of th ...

Leader of The Republicans, alliance crisis and departure

To the Right! (, ÀD!), is a movement within The Republicans. The movement was founded by Ciotti during the 2021 The Republicans congress. Ciotti was elected with 53.7% of the votes against his main opponent,

, 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. Ciotti was voted out as leader of the party on 12 June 2024 over his decision to seek an alliance with the far-right

and was "unanimously" removed from the party, according to Annie Genevard. A Paris court reviewed the decision on 14 June and ruled in Ciotti's favor. His alliance with the RN was labeled the Union of the Far-Right. On 22 September 2024, Ciotti announced he would leave The Republicans, fully committing himself to his Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR) party.

Political positions

Ciotti has largely been described as

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

and of belonging in the right-wing populist faction of The Republicans.

Economic policy

On economic issues, Ciotti 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 service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

, the return to 39 hours as the legal duration of

working time Working time or laboring time is the period of time that a person spends at paid Wage labour, labor. Unpaid work, Unpaid labor such as personal housework or caring for children or pets is not considered part of the working week. Many countri ...

, raising the retirement age to 65, the lowering of

corporate tax A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax or corporate income tax, is a type of direct tax levied on the income or capital of corporations and other similar legal entities. The tax is usually imposed at the national level, but ...

es, the abolition of

inheritance tax International tax law distinguishes between an estate tax and an 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 pro ...

as well as the reduction of

unemployment benefits Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work d ...

and social assistance. During the protests against Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms, Ciotti's office in Nice was attacked. According to a photo posted by Ciotti to his Twitter account, the front window of the office had been broken with a paving stone and vandals wrote "the motion or the stone", in reference to an upcoming vote in the National Assembly. Protests against pension measures have taken place across the country, affecting various industries.

European 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 union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

flag in all classrooms.

Foreign policy

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

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

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

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and wants the recognition of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

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.

Security and immigration policy

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'' magazine, 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'' ( or , ), meaning 'right of soil', 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 contrast to ''jus sanguinis'' ('right of blood') ass ...

'' in favour of the ''

jus sanguinis ( or , ), meaning 'right of blood', is a principle of nationality law by which nationality is determined or acquired by the nationality of one or both parents. Children at birth may be nationals of a particular state if either or both of thei ...

'' 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, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

"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"). In 2021, he stated "our society is changing, if we have to talk about ' great replacement', I talk about 'replacement'". In the face of Islamic terrorism, he advocated the creation of a "French-style Guantanamo" and the adoption of "specially adapted laws, like the Patriot Act in the United States.

Relations with the far-right

In April 2021, Ciotti stated that "what differentiates he Republicansfrom the

is our capacity to govern". In September 2021, Ciotti declared that if the second round of the French presidential election ended up being between

and Éric Zemmour, he would vote for the latter. Later that year, Renaud Muselier, the President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur left the Republicans, saying that Ciotti was "conveying the ideas of Éric Zemmour within LR". Ahead of the

, he called for The Republicans to enter into an

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

with the National Rally. He was expelled from the party in response. This decision was subsequently recognised as illegal by the Judiciary Tribunal of Paris, re-instating him. Following the election, Ciotti said in an interview with

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

that he was proud to have broken the “artificial” taboo against working with the far right and predicted that the “vast majority of people on the right” would follow the same path.

Other activities

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

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ciotti, Eric 1965 births Living people French people of Italian descent Rally for the Republic politicians Union for a Popular Movement politicians The Republicans (France) politicians Sciences Po alumni Politicians from Nice Right-wing populism in France French city councillors Departmental councillors (France) Presidents of French departments 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 Deputies of the 16th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 17th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Union of the Far-Right politicians