In the beginning of the crisis, acting beyond their powers, as close as possible to the citizens, our territories have shown great agility, which has enabled them to respond to multiple ´fis.
Crossing administrative borders, they faced major dysfunctions and shortages and invented new practices. They organized a social, nutritional, educational and ecological response to this crisis, often remedying the dysfunctions of the State and strengthening the relays of solidarity. The regions hardest hit by the crisis were extremely reactive in ordering masks, organizing the transfer of some patients to cope with the saturation of hospitals and rapidly unblock exceptional aid to economic players and associations by creating support funds from March, some exceeding one billion euros. Departments were also at work with local representatives of the State to organize the health or social response by distributing, for example, up to several thousand meals during the Period of confinement to deal with food insecurity. Municipalities have not only been ahead of the state, but sometimes have had to respond to errors of analysis and to the hostility of the latter.
Local stakeholders can do much more
These feats show that the actors of the territories can do much more, and much better, if we leave them the capacity to act without questioning the prerogatives of the State whose strength is necessary. to the Republic.
It is urgent because the challenges of the positive transition of territories are numerous. Foremost among these is the need to rethink the organization of care and the link between town, country and public hospital medicine. The reduction of territorial inequalities (in mobility and medical deserts in particular) is in this sense essential for the wider reduction of social inequalities. The most vulnerable people are the most exposed to the virus and its economic consequences. For example, in Seine-Saint-Denis, the excess mortality rate reached 134% during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, between March 1 and April 19, 2020, against 99% for the Parisians.
The imperative to link the climate issue to that of social justice
While the yellow vests crisis is still on everyone’s mind, the Covid-19 crisis reminds us of the imperative to link the climate issue to that of social justice. The revival of economic activity must be a driving force for redirecting investments towards ecological transition, the creation of new jobs and the sustainability of our territories. On all of these subjects, the constraint must give way to innovation and collective intelligence. The communities, and all the actors of the territories, associations and companies must play a major role there, as close as possible to the citizens and local realities for a multiplier effect.
As the next budget is prepared, and the conditions for the country’s response to the current crisis are being decided upon, it is therefore urgent to finally allow our local communities to become major players in the life of this country. It is now a question of perpetuating the actions taken to deal with the first wave of Covid-19 by giving local elected officials the means for their actions and greater financial leeway. re, after years of declining state grants.
A daring decentralization to face climate and social challenges
Faced with this reality, we are calling on the state to boldly decentralize in order to face climate and social issues. This decentralization should strengthen the role of local public authorities at the heart of the problems through welcome administrative clarifications and renewed financial resources.
While the government announced this Thursday, September 3 the details of its stimulus plan, already providing for a 10 billion cut in production taxes, key resources for communities ´s, we expect the State to provide real guarantees of compensation. Until then, the burden of public procurement rested heavily on the budgets of the communities, essential support in the face of the crisis, it is now essential that the State take its share. Finally, it is imperative not to pit the industry recovery plan against that devoted to ecological transition, two sides of the same coin. Giving the power to act to local communities means urgently reforming territorial skills, an essential prerequisite for building a positive future.
We invite all the actors of these territories to mobilize for this and to come together to build this response, during the next LH Forum on September 24 and 25, 2020 in Le Havre. “
The petitioners. Jacques Attali (President of Positive Planet), Audrey Tcherkoff (Executive President of Postive Planet), Eric Piolle (Mayor of Grenoble), Hervé Morin (President of the Normandy region), Xavier Bertrand (President of the Hauts-de-France region) , Stéphane Troussel (President of the departmental council of Seine-Saint-Denis), Laurence Lemouzy (Scientific director, Institute of Territorial Governance and Decentralization), Jean-Marie Bockel (President of the senatorial delegation to local communities and decentralization ), Pierre Aschieri (Mayor of Mouans-Sartoux), David Lisnard (Mayor of Cannes), Valérie Pécresse (President of the Ile de France region), Jean Rottner (President of the Grand Est region), (Anne Vignot, Mayor of Besançon ).
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