The merger of metropolitan areas with departments is progressing under the impetus of the President of the Republic, who is attempting to reform the structure of local authorities where too many overlaps hinder the efficiency of public policies, duplicate costs, and fuel power struggles through intertwined decision-making processes.
The metropolitan areas (over 500,000 inhabitants) of Nice, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Nantes, and Lille are being considered, following Lyon (where the reform has been in place since 2014), Marseille-Aix under evaluation, and Greater Paris, already approved.
To better understand: the powers (all or some) of the departments would be transferred to the metropolitan area within its territorial perimeter. The department would retain them for the rest of the territory.
In the case of the Alpes-Maritimes, the Department would be stripped of the 49 municipalities of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolitan Area.
This is a campaign project of candidate Macron, inspired by the example of Greater Lyon. A consensus has emerged on a target department-metropolis model, which still needs to be refined.
A law will be needed to enact this reform, which, under the auspices of the Elysee, is expected to be voted on before the 2020 municipal elections. We can imagine the controversies from the far-right and left opposition under the banner of: don’t touch my territory.
As for the right-wing, we will once again see the divide between the reactionaries of Laurent Wauquiez and the “cannonball” Eric Ciotti, and the moderate group to which the mayors of Bordeaux, Nice, and Toulouse belong, who are also directly affected.
From an electoral architecture point of view, the president of the department-metropolis would be elected by direct universal suffrage, at the same time as the mayor. Due to the rule on non-cumulation of mandates, it could not be the same person.
In this case, the direct universal suffrage election of the metropolitan president would only take place in 2026.
It is already known that Christian Estrosi is (very) supportive of this reform, which he has spoken in favor of on several occasions. This would allow him to establish his authority over the metropolitan area without having to face the incessant criticism of his local rival, Eric Ciotti, who thundered—how could it be otherwise?—against the President of the Republic.
Naturally, this initiative by the President of the Republic has alarmed departmental leaders who will see their prerogatives—and above all their power—affected!
Formally, they deplore not having been invited to this consultation. More prosaically, they fear that the metropolitan areas will reign supreme over the dynamic parts of the territory and leave only peri-urban or rural areas to the general councils.
In a letter sent to the President of the Republic, they point out the “irrevocable risk of further accentuating territorial fractures that weaken our country, undermine the social fabric, and fuel the rise of extremism.” As an alternative, they propose “an alternative model based on complementarity and cooperation between departmental and metropolitan services,” i.e., mere window dressing.
In fact, it is mainly their personal power that would be weakened and that they are defending.
Reform, reform, what a beautiful but vain word!
