It seemed buried at the beginning of the year, but it reappears one month from the regional and one year before the presidential election: the Council of Ministers must approve the 4D bill on Wednesday, which gives new powers to the territories.
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Despite a busy schedule by the end of the legislature, President Emmanuel Macron has retained the bill led by Jacqueline Gourault, the Minister of Territorial Cohesion. The sources consulted by our colleagues from AFP give two distinct explanations for this choice. The first, presented as “pragmatic“by the minister’s office:”The bill was ready and the consultation work had been carried out“The second explanation is more political: the president of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand, potential right-wing candidate for the presidential election in 2022,”has focused his campaign on the territories and Emmanuel Macron wants to give himself an air of decentralizer with this text“, observes a territorial source.
A text that could be adopted at the end of the year
Presented to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, the bill should be debated in early July in the Senate. The National Assembly should look into the 4D “in September“, specifies the cabinet of Ms. Gourault.
As this bill leaves elected associations unsatisfied, a multitude of amendments are expected. “Hundreds or more“, foresees André Laignel, vice-president (PS) of the Association of mayors of France (AMF).”This text will serve more the communication of the government that it will fundamentally modify the relations between the State and the communities“, he laments.
On the side of the government, one awaits the parliamentary debate with serenity because “the text was drawn up in a constructive state of mind”.
What does “4D” mean?
The 4 D’s correspond to “differentiation, decentralization, deconcentration and decomplexification“. But on the side of the ministry, we readily recognize that the”decomplexification” is a “barbarism” which actually responds to a “simplification” administrative procedures.
For Mr. Laignel, the law is called 4D because “it lacks relief“. What is certain is that it is not a great law of decentralization.”Local elected officials are not waiting for massive transfers of skills (…), but for the ability to adapt public policies to their specificity and to have a little flexibility“, explains the firm.
The 4D law is thus added to other government programs launched for the territories, such as “City heart action“, “small towns of tomorrow” or “industry territories“.
???? Our program #PetitesVillesDeDemain strengthens the resources of elected officials from cities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants to implement their regional projects, throughout their term of office, until 2026.
???? More than 1,600 municipalities are concerned. pic.twitter.com/RiJiLPYnDd
– National Agency for Territorial Cohesion (@ANCTerritoires) May 8, 2021
What new skills?
On the transport side, regions wishing to do so will have the possibility of broadening their skills to include small rail lines in order to “reinvest this network“or transform it,” says the cabinet.They will own the stations and will be able to rehabilitate them“.
From a road point of view, the departments which so wish will be able to appropriate sections of national roads. A recentralized RSA With the health crisis and the significant expenses that certain departments which have the competence of the RSA will have to bear, the 4D law will propose “to experiment with recentralization“in order to relieve the territories financially. But there will be a counterpart:”better investment on the part of the departments in integration policies“, explains the ministry.
And health ?
During the health crisis, local authorities severely criticized the role of regional health agencies (ARS) and asked for more skills, particularly in the area of hospitals. The 4D law does not call into question the centralization of health, but proposes a slight modification within the governance of the ARS. “Two of the three vice-presidents will be local elected officials, so as to give them a stronger voice, in particular on the distribution of the healthcare supply.“, explains the firm.
The departments also demand that school medicine be transferred to them, as agreed in the agreement reached in December between their association and Prime Minister Jean Castex. Cross-border issues also concerned Initially, the text did not provide for new cross-border powers for local authorities. They were added in recent months during consultations. They will simplify the “mechanisms” for “structures which manage cross-border infrastructures”, in particular in the field of transport and hospitals.
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