Illegal Municipal Decrees
It has become a political specialty, almost a local sport, a common and trivialized practice: the blatantly illegal municipal decree, which will, of course, be overturned, but allows for a mediatic-electoral buzz. Non-exhaustive list:
May 1997: the Administrative Tribunal (A.T.) annuls two anti-begging decrees from the City of Nice.
July 2010: the A.T. annuls both the Nice municipal decree and the prefectural decree imposing a closing time of 11 p.m. for night grocery stores due to nighttime alcohol sales.
March 2014: the A.T. declares the Nice municipal decree banning foreign flags illegal and sentences the City of Nice to €1,000 in damages.
March 2015: the A.T. confirms the illegality of the Nice “anti-bivouac” decree and orders the City to pay €1,000 to the League of Human Rights.
August 2016: the “anti-burkini” municipal decrees from the cities of Cannes, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Fréjus, and Nice are invalidated one after the other. The State Council’s ruling on August 26, 2016, specifies that the Villeneuve-Loubet municipal decree constitutes “a serious and clearly illegal infringement on fundamental freedoms such as the freedom to come and go, freedom of conscience, and personal freedom.”
These municipal decrees systematically target populations deemed “undesirable”: Roma, homeless people, foreigners, Muslims. We are thus facing a strategy of methodical and systematic stigmatization of targeted minorities.
The State Council has once again confirmed a manifest infringement on fundamental freedoms regarding the so-called “anti-burkini” decrees, which the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates “stigmatize Muslims” and “fuel religious intolerance.”
If a citizen repeatedly and unfoundedly appeals to justice, they can be convicted for abusive litigation. Yet a city seems able to issue a series of increasingly illegal decrees with complete impunity.
by David Nakache, All Citizens
