Christian Estrosi

Christian Paul Gilbert Estrosi (; born 1 July 1955) is a French sportsman and former politician. He was the Mayor of Nice from 2008 to 2026. 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 from 2015 to 2017 and First Deputy Mayor of Nice 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. His grandparents were immigrants from Italy. He won the French round of the 1976 Formula 750 season at the Circuit Paul Armagnac. He also had a fourth-place finish in the 1978 500cc French Grand Prix.

In addition, Estrosi held several ministerial positions in the national government in Paris.

Career in municipal politics Estrosi was a regional councillor of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur from 1992 to 2002 and served as a regional council vice president from 1992 to 1998 under the presidency of Jean-Claude Gaudin. 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 (later Republicans) leadership under their chairman Jean-François Copé in January 2013, Estrosi became – alongside Henri de Raincourt, Jean-Claude Gaudin, Brice Hortefeux, Roger Karoutchi and Gérard Longuet – 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 Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve for the lack of strength of the National Police force presence on the night the 2016 Nice truck attack. Amid the Fillon affair, in March 2017, Estrosi joined Xavier Bertrand, Valérie Pécresse and others in calling for Alain Juppé to replace François Fillon 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, 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's Horizons party, after Toulon Mayor Hubert Falco. 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 nicknamed the three politicians the "infernal trio of the Provençal right". He withdrew from political life after failing to be re-elected in March 2026 and announced he would focus on his family.

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 swimsuit that some Muslim women wear on the beach, which was later invalidated by French courts. 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.

Estrosi is a supporter of Israel. In 2021, he hung the Israeli flag outside the city hall in Nice after supporting a ban on pro-Palestine protests. In December 2023, Estrosi faced backlash after claiming that mothers in Gaza use "dolls" as "dead bodies". In June 2025, a French court ordered Estrosi to remove Israeli flags from the city hall, deciding that the gesture violated the "principle of neutrality" in public services since it constituted a political message.

Estrosi was a main supporter of the implementation in Nice of the Israeli security application Carbyne, sharply criticizing CNIL's decision to ban it on the grounds that it was "too intrusive" and its legal basis was fragile. Estrosi commented the decision would only benefit the terrorists. In the Carnival of 2019, Estrosi implemented the facial recognition technology from the similarly Israeli Anyvision.

Recognition Estrosi is the recipient of a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Haifa in Israel. He is a Knight of the Legion of Honour from the French Republic, an Officer of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, and a Commander of the Order of Saint-Charles from Monaco.

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.

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. Early on during the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Estrosi tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.