The Territorial Organisation of France
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The territorial organisation of France Published on France’s National Assembly’s website Available in French at this link Translated with DeepL Pro Since the 2003 revision, the Constitution has affirmed that the organization of the Republic is decentralized, thus taking note of the decentralization process initiated in the early 1980s. In fact, many powers have been transferred to the communes, departments and regions, but also to special-status communities and overseas collectivities. At the same time, communes are increasingly grouping together within public establishments for intermunicipal cooperation, in order to pool their resources. As a reflection of their competences, these are also increasing sharply, both in terms of financial and human resources. This twofold increase in competences and resources makes local authorities major public players in local life and democracy. The constitutional amendment of 28 March 2003 enshrined in Article 1 of the Constitution the fact that the organisation of the Republic is decentralised. This new stage in the decentralization process is part of the continuation of numerous reforms, which have conferred greater freedom of administration on the various territorial levels. The Act of 2 March 1982 on the rights and freedoms of communes, departments and regions marked an essential step in this regard. Since the 1990s, emphasis has been placed on intermunicipal cooperation. This process of decentralization has also been accompanied by an increasing devolution of State services to the regions and departments. Starting in 2009 and 2010, the deconcentrated services have undergone a profound reorganisation as part of an overall reform of the territorial administration of the State. I. A wide range of territorial authorities Article 72 of the Constitution lists the territorial communities of the Republic as follows: "communes, departments, regions, communities with special status and overseas communities governed by article 74". 1. - Municipalities, departments and regions There are currently three levels of local authorities in France. (a) The communes are the oldest and closest level to the citizens within the territorial organization of France. In 1789 they succeeded the former parishes. The mayor, who is elected by the municipal council, is both a representative of the State in the commune (he or she has powers in matters of civil status and administrative police) and the holder of local executive power (he or she prepares and executes the decisions of the municipal council). In 2016, their grouping into "new municipalities", initiated from 2010 and encouraged by the law of 16 March 2015 on the improvement of the new municipality system for strong and lively municipalities, brought their number below the symbolic bar of 36,000 municipalities. (b) The departments were also created in 1789. There are 101 of them, 96 of which are in metropolitan France. They were originally constituencies for State action (represented there by the prefect) and it was not until 1871 that they became territorial authorities. In application of the law of 17 March 2013 on the election of departmental councillors, municipal councillors and community councillors and amending the electoral code, their deliberative assemblies have, as from the elections of March 2015, been called "departmental councils" (instead of "general councils"). Voters in each canton now elect two members of the opposite sex, running as a pair of candidates. The Departmental Councils are renewed in their entirety every six years. (c) The regions are of more recent creation. In the 1960s, they were simply public establishments, regional action constituencies intended to give greater coherence to State policy, at a level higher than that of the department. The Act of 2 March 1982 granted them the status of territorial collectivity, but it was not until 1986 that the first election of regional councils was held by universal suffrage. The Act of 16 January 2015 on the delimitation of the regions, regional and departmental elections and amending the electoral timetable brought together certain regions, thus increasing their total number from 21 to 12 (excluding Corsica, a community with special status). These three levels constitute both territorial authorities and State action constituencies (whose representatives are the mayor, the prefect and the regional prefect respectively). As a result, the organization of decentralized State services is based on the same territorial divisions. Within the department, there is also the arrondissement, where the State is traditionally represented by a sub- prefect. 2. - Communities with special status and overseas collectivities Some local authorities enjoy a special status, both in metropolitan France and overseas. In metropolitan France, Paris, Lyon and Marseille have a special status: these cities are divided into arrondissements, which elect arrondissement councils and mayors. In addition, Paris has the dual status of a commune and a department, although these two levels must be merged into a new special- status community within the meaning of Article 72 of the Constitution, called the "City of Paris", on 1 January 2019, pursuant to the Act of 28 February 2017 on the status of Paris and metropolitan planning. Moreover, most police power is placed in the hands of the prefect of police, not the mayor. Similarly, since 2015, the "metropolis of Lyon", which enjoys the same status, has replaced the urban community of Lyon and, within the former territorial limits of the latter, the Rhône department. In addition, rules that partly derogate from ordinary law apply to the Île-de-France region, as well as to Alsace and Moselle for historical reasons. Corsica benefits from a specific institutional organisation, allowing greater management autonomy. The territorial community of Corsica has extended powers in certain areas, particularly in the protection of cultural heritage. In application of the law of 7 August 2015 on the new territorial organisation of the Republic (NOTRE), it will become a single authority on 1 January 2018, merging the current territorial authority of Corsica and the departments of South Corsica and Upper Corsica. The overseas departments and regions of Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Reunion and Mayotte are subject, under Article 73 of the Constitution, to the system of legislative assimilation. They exercise the ordinary law powers of the departments and regions, but they are also involved in international negotiations and have greater power of proposal. In 2011, Mayotte became the fifth overseas department, with the status of a single collectivity exercising the powers devolved to the overseas departments and regions. In 2016, Martinique and French Guiana also became single collectivities. On the other hand, the overseas collectivities (Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the Wallis and Futuna Islands and French Polynesia) and New Caledonia are subject to the principle of legislative speciality, governed, respectively, by articles 74 and 77 of the Constitution: an organic law defines the status of each collectivity and lists the laws applicable to it. The local assemblies may draw up regulations falling within the scope of the law, excluding regalian matters. 3. - The development of intermunicipality and metropolises France is one of the countries in the world with the most communes. In order to deal with the risk of local public policy fragmentation, an inter-municipal level has been developed, enabling several municipalities to pool the management of certain public services and the development of certain policies. To this end, public establishments for intermunicipal cooperation (EPCI) have been created, which are public entities without being local authorities. Their creation is most often the result of a voluntary approach by the communities that become members and does not lead to their disappearance. The first generation of EPCIs is made up of intermunicipal associations, of which there are now about 8,500, divided into single-purpose intermunicipal associations (SIVU), which exercise only one competence (e.g. road management), and multi-purpose intermunicipal associations (SIVOM), which may exercise several. These EPCIs have no resources of their own and therefore depend on the municipalities for their financing. In addition, there are mixed syndicates, which may associate communes with other public entities and which number about 3,000 (including metropolitan centres and territorial and rural equilibrium centres). The second generation of EPCI is a response to the desire for greater integration, with intermunicipal cooperation being financed by its own taxation - either a single business tax or additional taxation. Their number was significantly reduced as of 1 January 2017, the date of entry into force of the new intermunicipal cards defined in application of the NOTRE law. France thus has 1,268 EPCIs with their own tax system (instead of 2,134 in 2015), including 15 metropolises, 14 urban communities, 219 conurbation communities and 1,019 communities of communes. The geographical and population criteria for obtaining metropolitan status, as set out in the Act of 27 January 2014 on the modernisation of territorial public action and the affirmation of metropolises (known as the "MAPTAM" Act), were also extended by the above-mentioned Act of 28 February 2017 on the status of Paris. This reform should enable seven urban communities and conurbation