The French Revolution of 2010? France is currently split into regions and then sub-divided into small departments (there are further divisions at a more local level). But it seems change is in the air but the resulting furore may resist early changes. The Telegraph reports on this story. Extracts below .....
In 2008, President Nicolas Sarkozy – himself once dubbed "Napoleon Bonaparte in a suit" – set up a committee to slash French bureaucracy and "liberate growth". One of its most revolutionary suggestions was to simply abolish the 94 départements in mainland France and two in Corsica. They were an unnecessary layer in the country's administrative "sedimented and fossilised institutions" that should be axed within ten years.
Better, it said, to transfer their control – over some schools, social benefits and roads – to the 22 "regions" and 6,000 "super-communes" or larger villages, rather than the current 36,682, some tiny.
The suggestion sparked widespread fury among many local politicians from both Left and Right, who – contrary to revolutionaries' initial aims – saw the département as a crucial receptacle of local identity. Local anger was fanned by a parallel plan to scrap departmental numbers from car number plates in line with new European rules.
Faced with open revolt, Mr Sarkozy hastily pledged to keep the cherished départements, but then set up another committee run by Edouard Balladur, another former prime minister, to look into "territorial reform".
Careful to avoid mention of doing away with the département, the Balladur Committee nevertheless suggested creating a new type of local politician called a "territorial councillor" who would sit both on regional and departmental councils, thus halving the number of local politicians in one fell swoop.
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