France re-draws its regional map

#FRANCE has re-drawn the administrative map of the country, reducing the number of regions from 22 to 13.

For several years, comments French-Propety.com, France has been struggling to come to terms with the need to streamline its labyrinthine three-tiered system of local government, comprising regions, departments and parishes (communes). The overlapping powers and responsibilities of the councils inevitably means that no-one really understands who is responsible for what, and most of the time no-one is responsible for anything! As a result of recent ad-hoc re-organizations, there are in fact four layers of local government in many parts of the country, particularly in rural areas.

The new regions – which have yet to be named – will be created from the merger of existing regions, as follows: 

• Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine 
• Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes 
• Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes  
• Burgundy and France-Comté 
• Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées 
• Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy 
• Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy 

The regions of Brittany, Pays de la Loire, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Corsica, and Ile-de-France will maintain their existing boundaries, although it can be anticipated that a merger between Brittany and the Pays de la Loire is likely happen at some point in the future. Only political cronyism kept it from being wrapped together in this round.

A number of parliamentarians (primarily from Alsace) have referred the law to the Constitutional Council, claiming that the changes have been made without proper consultation with the local councils. It may yet all implode!

www.french-property.com

Go Holiday news : www.govillasandcottages.co.uk

All your holiday needs: IN PRINT - ON-LINE - DiGiMAG - SMARTPHONE -TABLET - BLOG - TWITTER - G+ - FACEBOOK