Emmanuel Macron promised Monday a “real decentralization”, with real transfers of “responsibilities” and “funding”, during a trip to Mayenne focused on the “return of the State” in rural areas.
The cross-party commission on the reform of institutions, promised for this second five-year term and which will be installed “in the coming months”, will open a “new chapter of decentralization, of real decentralization”, launched the Head of State by reopening the sub-prefecture of Château-Gontier (Mayenne), closed since 2016. This is the first of six sub-prefectures which he has promised to reopen or create by the end of the year.
Greater proximity to the territories
“Very often we have installed a false decentralization in our country (…) Decentralization is not about giving a skill without transferring the funding dynamic that goes with it, and the responsibilities that go with it,” he said. He underlines. “The responsibilities must accompany, that the normative power must accompany and that the financing must accompany and that all of this goes to the end, which is not quite the case today”, he conceded. .
The greatest proximity with the territories will also go through the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) and the consultation it involves between government, elected officials, social partners and citizens, from school to health, he said. recalled. “I wanted us to be able with all our territories and as closely as possible to build concrete decisions for our compatriots, that’s the spirit of the National Council for Refoundation,” he said.
More “visibility”
The Head of State also promised more “visibility” to mayors in the management of public finances “while inflation is there and there is a lot of anxiety for the next budgets”. “We have to give clarity, give it in a simple way, with force”. The Association of Mayors of France (AMF) said it was “very concerned” in September about the ability of mayors to carry out their public service missions due to inflation and uncertainty about the future of local finances. .