. Observatory on Local Autonomy

The Balladur Committee Report or The predictable death of one more local government reform

Upcoming development: The Balladur Committee’s proposals (March 2009) - 25 th September 2008: the French President announces a new reform of local government to give local authorities more freedom - 22 nd October 2008: the Balladur Committee is appointed by President Sarkozy - 29 th October 2008 – 25 th February 2009: working session of the Committee - 5 th March 2009: the Balladur Report is published

Upcoming development: The Balladur Committee’s Proposals (March 2009) 20 proposals to reform the French local government system about: - local councils’ organisation and structure - local elections - local (public) management However, there are many obstacles to carry out these reforms (see slide ‘The Balladur Committee limits’ (4).

The Balladur Committee’s Proposals (1-1) About the number of local government tiers: - Creating 9 to 11 metropolises, as in Hungary (Budapest), in Latvia (‘republican’ cities and Riga) or in Portugal (metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto) - Increasing the number of joint inter-communal bodies to be spread out over the whole of France by 2014 in order to develop co-operation between all municipalities - Turning existing joint bodies (‘Etablissements publics de coopération intercommunale’, EPCIs) into proper local authorities’ while each member-commune keeps its own status

The Balladur Committee’s Proposals (1-2) 1) The number of local government tiers: - No more ‘pays’ (joint authority created by local authorities and economic actors, dedicated to economic development) can be created - A smaller number of Regional Councils: from 26 councils (including overseas regions) down to 15 ones - Creation of ‘Greater Paris’ What about the French ‘départements’(provinces)? Are they to be deleted ? No, they’ll ‘survive’!

The Balladur Committee’s Proposals (2) 2) The reforms of local elections: - At ‘département’ and regional levels, councillors will be elected simultaneously (what about their wards and the voting system?) - Councillors in joint bodies (EPCI) will be directly elected. In fact, they are elected by and within municipal councils - A special commission will be created to deal with Corsica and the overseas territories

The Balladur Committee’s Proposals (3-1) 3) Local public management: - Reallocation of responsibilities: general responsibilities for communes and specific responsibilities for ‘départements’ and regions - abolition of central government provincial or regional offices : authorities : their tasks will be decentralised to local authorities - the principle of subsidiarity is asserted for joint intercommunal bodies (EPCIs) but not for communes!

The Balladur Committee’s Proposals (3-2) - Improvement of local finance management: the Parliament will assess local authorities’ expenditures through annual debates and fix a ‘reasonable’ rate of increase for local authorities’ budgets. - Reform of the local tax system (and consequently, of the national tax system) because the local tax system is too opaque and blurred and because local authorities lack any real financial autonomy.

The Balladur Committee’s Limits (4) Cultural obstacles: 1.French people are too much attached to their own communes 2.‘Départements’ (provinces) have been inherited from the French Revolution 3.Any local government reform should be based on local authorities’ willingness and volunteering (nothing can be imposed!) Major political obstacles: 1.First of all, the system o accumulation of mandates (and of allowances) 2.Lobbies: French local government associations, e.g. Association des Régions de France (ARF), Assemblée des Départements de France (ADF) and Association des maires de france (AMF)

Two important bills are still being discussed in Parliament (5) 1)A bill to reform ‘départements’ and regions (introduced to Parliament in October 2009; still being discussion): - One single elected council for two different local authorities -Proposed merging regions and ‘départements’ through local referendums -inter-communal co-operation to be completed by ) Greater Paris Authority (introduced to the Parliament in October 2009; still being discussed) : - a special status for Paris area

The problem with the French local government system is simple and was once epitomized by Georges Vedel: ‘In France, the decentralisation process is so natural that we organise it in a centralised way!’