In most other towns in France the gesture would have been unremarkable. The National Front or FN, by its French acronym still campaigns against immigration, same-sex marriages and the euro. Past National Front politicians who won office have often messed up and been voted out.
The orders: Apply the rulebook, manage conservatively and, above all, show the FN is fit to rule. Some FN mayors have slipped already. One near Marseille banned free lunches for poor children while boosting his own salary by 44 percent. Another had an anti-vagrancy decree knocked down by a court as racist. But most have largely stayed out of trouble. People in the party say he was picked for his organisational skills.
Shopkeepers like his decision to extend summer opening hours. Others are pleased he increased the police budget.
And he has laid on extra shows at the newly renovated Roman arena. Gabriel Aymard, president of the Jewish community association in Frejus, is more guarded. Others are wary. His critics say Rachline has placed party sympathisers in roles that should be apolitical, broken his promises, and shown a vengeful streak.
Despite campaigning against a new mosque in the town, for months he let conservative Muslims go ahead with building it. Then recently, he found a legal obstacle to the project. Far right parties across Europe are looking to build on electoral gains they have made in towns and cities that are stuck in a post-crisis slump. Rachline himself says he is simply governing better than his centre-right predecessor. Opinion polls now rate Marine Le Pen a strong contender for president in a vote.
