Christian Estrosi

Christian Estrosi
President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 December 2015
Preceded by	Michel Vauzelle
Mayor of Nice
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 March 2008
Preceded by	Jacques Peyrat
Deputy Minister of Industry
In office 23 June 2009 – 13 November 2010
President	Nicolas Sarkozy
Prime Minister	François Fillon
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Éric Besson
Deputy Minister of Overseas France
In office 19 June 2007 – 17 March 2008
President	Nicolas Sarkozy
Prime Minister	François Fillon
Preceded by	Frédéric de Saint-Sernin
Succeeded by	Hubert Falco
Deputy Minister of Planning of the Territory
In office 2 June 2005 – 15 May 2007
President	Jacques Chirac
Prime Minister	Dominique de Villepin
Personal details
Born	(1955-07-01) 1 July 1955 Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France
Nationality	French
Political party	Rally for the Republic (1988-2002) Union for a Popular Movement (2002-2015) Les Républicains (2015-present)
Spouse(s)	Dominique Sassone (1995-present)
Children	Two children
Profession	Motorcyclist
Religion	Christian (Roman Catholicism)

Christian Estrosi
Nationality	French
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1976 - 1983 First race 1976 500cc Finnish Grand Prix Last race 1983 250cc Swedish Grand Prix Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 31 0 0 1 0

Christian Estrosi (born 1 July 1955) is a French sportsman and politician. He is a former professional motorcyclist and Minister. He currently serves as the Mayor of Nice, and as a member of the National Assembly of France for the 5th constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes.

Biography

Early life

Christian Estrosi was born on 1 July 1955 in Nice. His grandparents were immigrants from Italy.

Career as a motorcyclist

He was a professional motorcycle racer and competed at the world championship level in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. His best result was a fourth-place finish in the 500cc 1978 French Grand Prix. He repeated the result with another fourth-place finish at the 1979 Spanish Grand Prix. He received the Youth and Sports gold medal.

Political career

He was a member of the municipal council of Nice from 1983 to 1990, when he resigned. He was re-elected in 2008, when he was also elected Mayor of Nice. In 2013, he rejected a plan to build a mosque funded by a businessman from Saudi Arabia in Nice.

He has served as President of the Urban community of Nice Côte d'Azur since 2008 and Chairman of Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur since 2012. He served as regional councillor of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur from 1992 to 2002, and as its Vice President from 1992 to 1998. He served as Vice-president of the General Council of Alpes-Maritimes from 2001 to 2003, and as its President from 2003 to 2008.

He served as a member of the National Assembly of France for the 5th constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes from 1988 to 1993, then from 1997 to 2005, from 2008 to 2009, and has served in this capacity since 2010. In addition, he has held several ministerial positions in the French government in Paris. He was appointed on 2 June 2005 as Deputy Minister of Land Management. He was then appointed on 19 June 2007 as the Deputy Minister of the Overseas French territories (DOM-TOM). From 2009 to 2010, he served as Deputy Minister in charge of Industry.

He is the recipient of an Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Haifa in Israel. He is a Knight of the Legion of Honour from the French Republican, an Officer of the Ordre National du Mérite Polonais, and a Commander of the Order of Saint-Charles from Monaco.

Personal life

He was married to Dominique Sassone, daughter of Jean Sassone (1931-2006), who served as Vice Mayor of Nice from 1977 to 1998.