Cumul des mandats

One of the most striking things about French political life is the way in which notables, the big shots, simultaneously occupy posts in local, regional and national government. This cumul des mandats is described, according to one's point of view, as yet another selfish example of cronyism and clientelism (not to mention an agreeable multiplication of salaries, pensions and expense accounts), or as a practical, even selfless way of joining up the micro- and macro- government of a still very statist polity. Nice's mayor, Christian Estrosi, is also a minister in the present Sarkozy government, whilst the present UMP mayor of Antibes, Jean Leonetti, is not only leader of the town council, but also president of the much larger grouping which takes in the gigantic science park (and cash cow) of Sophia Antipolis, and, coincidentally, a deputy in the national parliament with a high profile role in medical legislation.

This kind of cosy multitasking has been going on for a long time. The present town council in Antibes meets in the disaffected Chapelle du Saint Esprit, in the heart of the old town. This building, along with the cathedral, sits upon foundations of much older buildings, Roman, Greek, and pre-classical. When archaeologists performed a dig in the chapel in the '60s, they came across a plaque in honour of the mayor (patronus), commissioned by the Roman-period town councillors (ordo decuriorum).

L(ucio) MATUCIO MAXIMO XVIRO STL(itibus) (iu)DIC(andis) TRIB(uno) MIL(itum) L(egionis) II ADIUTRICI LE(gato) PROVINC(iae) MACEDONIAE D(ecreto) D(ecuriorum) PATRONO

[To the mayor, Lucius Matucius Maximus, civil magistrate and soldiers' tribune of the second legion 'Adiutrix' and legate for the province of Macedonia. By order of the town councillors.]

Clearly the then mayor, a notable with imperial connexions and a considerable, probably senatorial cumul des mandats, was going to be away from Antibes a lot, leaving the affairs of the town with his adjoint, like Estrosi and Leonetti.