Communes of France: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
Article Images
Line 15:
| population_range = 1 ([[Rochefourchat]]) – 2,175,601 ([[Paris]])
| area_range = 0.04 km<sup>2</sup> ([[Castelmoron-d'Albret]]) – 18,360 km<sup>2</sup> ([[Maripasoula]])
| government = [[Municipal council (France)|Municipal Councilcouncil]]
| subdivision =
}}
{{Administrative divisions of France}}
The '''{{Lang|fr|commune|italic=no}}''' ({{IPA-|fr|kɔmynkɔmȳ|-|LL-Q150 (fra)-WikiLucas00-commune.wav}}) is a level of [[administrative divisions|administrative division]] in the [[France|French Republic]]. French {{Lang|fr|communes|italic=no}} are analogous to [[civil township]]s and incorporated [[municipality|municipalities]] in the United States and Canada, ''{{Lang|de|[[Municipalities of Germany|Gemeinden]]}}'' in Germany, ''{{lang|it|[[comuni]]}}'' in Italy, or ''{{Lang|es|[[Municipalities of Spain|municipios]]}}'' in Spain. The UK equivalent are [[civil parish]]es. {{Lang|fr|Communes|italic=no}} are based on historical geographic communities or villages and are vested with significant powers to manage the populations and land of the geographic area covered. The {{Lang|fr|communes|italic=no}} are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France.
{{Lang|fr|Communes|italic=no}} vary widely in size and area, from large sprawling cities with millions of inhabitants like [[Paris]], to small [[hamlet (place)|hamlets]] with only a handful of inhabitants. {{Lang|fr|Communes|italic=no}} typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All {{Lang|fr|communes|italic=no}} have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are {{Lang|fr|communes|italic=no}} ({{lang|fr|"lieu dit"}} or {{lang|fr|"bourg"}}), the difference residing in the lack of administrative powers. Except for the [[Municipal arrondissements of France|municipal arrondissements]] of its largest cities, the {{Lang|fr|communes|italic=no}} are the lowest level of administrative division in France and are governed by elected officials including a [[Mayor (France)|mayor]] (''{{Lang|fr|maire}}'') and a [[Municipal council (France)|municipal council]] (''{{Lang|fr|conseil municipal}}''). They have extensive autonomous powers to implement national policy.
== Terminology ==
A ''{{lang|fr|commune}}'' is the smallest and oldest [[Administrative divisions of France|administrative division in France]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/definition/c1468 |title=Définition: Commune |access-date=4 July 2022 |publisher=[[Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques]] |language=fr |archive-date=6 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706213927/https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/definition/c1468 |url-status=live }}</ref> "[[Intentional community|Commune]]" in English has a historical association with socialist and collectivist political movements and philosophies. This association arises in part from the rising of the [[Paris Commune]] (1871) which could have more felicitously been called, in English, "the rising of the City of Paris". There is nothing intrinsically different between "town" in English and ''{{lang|fr|commune}}'' in French.
The French word ''{{lang|fr|commune}}'' appeared in the 12th century, from [[Medieval Latin]] ''{{lang|la|[[Medieval commune|communia]]}}'', for a large gathering of people sharing a common life; from [[Latin]] ''{{lang|la|communis}}'', 'things held in common'.
=== Number of communes ===
As of January 2021, there were 35,083 communes in [[France]], of which 34,836 were in [[metropolitan France]], 129 in the [[Overseas departments and regions of France|overseas departments]], and 83 in the [[Overseas collectivity|overseas collectivities]] and [[New Caledonia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collectivites-locales.gouv.fr/files/Accueil/DESL/2021/Colloc%20en%20chiffres/CL_en_chiffres_2021.pdf| title=Les collectivités locales en chiffres 2021|publisher=Direction générale des collectivités locales|access-date=4 July 2022|language=fr|page=18|archive-date=22 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522235153/https://www.collectivites-locales.gouv.fr/files/Accueil/DESL/2021/Colloc%20en%20chiffres/CL_en_chiffres_2021.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> This is a considerably higher total than that of any other [[European country]], because French communes still largely reflect the division of France into villages or parishes at the time of the [[French Revolution]].
{| style="margin-auto"
|+ '''Evolution of the number of communes'''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://projetbabel.org/gl/cog.pdf |title=Le code officiel géographique (COG), avant, pendant et autour (Version 3, volume 1)|publisher=[[Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques|INSEE]]|access-date=2008-06-27|language=fr|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202309/http://projetbabel.org/gl/cog.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
| valign=top |
{| class="wikitable" style="width:350px; margin:auto;"
Line 135:
Furthermore, two regions without permanent habitation have no communes:
*TOM (''territoire d'outre-mer'', i.e., [[Overseas territory (France)|overseas territory]]) of the [[French Southern and Antarctic Lands]] (no permanent population, about 200 resident scientists, soldiers, and meteorologists)
*[[Clipperton Island]] in the Pacific Ocean (uninhabited)
=== Area of a typical commune ===
In metropolitan [[France]], the average area of a commune in 2004 was {{convert|14.88|km2|sqmi|sigfig=3}}. The [[median]] area of metropolitan France's communes at the 1999 census was even smaller, at {{convert|10.73|km2|sqmi|sigfig=3}}. The median area gives a better sense of the size of a ''typical'' mainland France commune than the average area, since the average includes some very large communes.
In [[Italy]], the median area of communes (''[[Comune|comuni]]'') is {{convert|22|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}; in [[Belgium]] it is {{convert|40|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}; in [[Spain]] it is {{convert|35|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}; and in [[Germany]], the majority of [[States of Germany|''Länder'']] have communes ([[States of Germany#Municipalities (Gemeinden)|''Gemeinden'']]) with a median area above {{convert|15|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}. [[Switzerland]] and the [[States of Germany|''Länder'']] of [[Rhineland-Palatinate]], and [[Schleswig-Holstein]], and [[Thuringia]] in Germany were the only places in Europe where the communes had a smaller median area than in France.
The communes of France's [[département d'outre-mer|overseas ''départements'']] such as [[Réunion]] and [[French Guiana]] are large by French standards. They usually group into the same commune several villages or towns, often with sizeable distances among them. In Réunion, demographic expansion and sprawling urbanization have resulted in the administrative splitting of some ''communes''.
Line 148:
The [[median]] population of metropolitan France's communes at the 1999 census was 380 inhabitants. Again this is a very small number, and here France stands absolutely apart in Europe, with the lowest communes' median population of all the European countries (communes in [[Switzerland]] or [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] may cover a smaller area, as mentioned above, but they are more populated). This small median population of French communes can be compared with Italy, where the median population of communes in 2001 was 2,343 inhabitants, [[Belgium]] (11,265 inhabitants), or even Spain (564 inhabitants).
The median population given here should not hide the fact that there are pronounced differences in size between French communes. As mentioned in the introduction, a commune can be a city of 2 million inhabitants such as Paris, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, or just a hamlet of 10 inhabitants. What the median population tells us is that the vast majority of the French communes only have a few hundred inhabitants;, but there are also a small number of communes withinwith much higher populations.
In metropolitan France 57 percent of the 36,683 communes<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/tableau.asp?reg_id=99&ref_id=t_0203R |title=Circonscriptions administrativesadministrative au 1er janvier 2015 : comparaisons régionales |trans-title=Administrative constituencies of 1 January 2015: regional comparisons |language=fr |publisher=[[Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques|INSEE]] |access-date=5 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140430033500/http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/tableau.asp?reg_id=99&ref_id=t_0203R |archive-date=30 April 2014}}</ref> have fewer than 500 inhabitants and, with 4,638,000 inhabitants, these smaller communes constitute just 7.7 percent of the total population. In other words, just 8 percent of the French population live in 57 percent of its communes, whilst 92 percent are concentrated in the remaining 43 percent.
=== Example: Alsace ===
Line 157:
With its 904 communes, Alsace has three times as many municipalities as [[Sweden]], which has a much larger territory covering {{convert|449,964|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} and yet is divided into only 290 municipalities ([[Municipalities of Sweden|''kommuner'']]). Alsace has more than double the total number of municipalities of the [[Netherlands]] which, in spite of having a population nine times larger and a land area four times larger than Alsace, is divided into just 390 municipalities ({{Lang|nl|[[Municipalities of the Netherlands|gemeenten]]}}).
Most of the communes in Alsace, along with those in other regions of France, have rejected the central government's calls for mergers and rationalization. By way of contrast, in the [[States of Germany|German states]] bordering Alsace, the geo-political and administrative areas have been subject to various re-organizations from the 1960s onward. In the state of [[Baden-Württemberg]], the number of ''Gemeinden'' or communities was reduced from 3,378 in 1968<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.landtag-bw.de/wp12/drucksachen/5000/12_5490_d.pdf |title=25 Jahre Gemeindereform Baden-Württemberg; hier: Neuordnung der Gemeinden |author=Parliament (Landtag) of Baden-Württemberg |access-date=2007-11-25 |language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128211923/http://www.landtag-bw.de/wp12/drucksachen/5000/12_5490_d.pdf |archive-date=28 November 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> to 1,108 in September 2007.<ref name=German_Gemeinden>{{cite web |url=http://www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de/dtland/dtland.htm |title=Gemeinden in Deutschland |author=gemeindeverzeichnis.de |access-date=2008-06-27 |language=de |archive-date=16 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181016132547/http://www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de/dtland/dtland.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In comparison, the number of communes in Alsace was only reduced from 946 in 1971<ref>{{cite web |url=http://splaf.free.fr/67his.html |title=Historique du Bas-Rhin |author=SPLAF |access-date=2007-11-25 |language=fr |archive-date=22 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722175315/http://splaf.free.fr/67his.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://splaf.free.fr/68his.html |title=Historique du Haut-Rhin |author=SPLAF |access-date=2007-11-25 |language=fr |archive-date=22 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722175320/http://splaf.free.fr/68his.html |url-status=live }}</ref> (just before the Marcellin law aimed at encouraging French communes to merge with each other was passed, see [[Communes of France#Current debate|Current debate]] section below) to 904 in January 2007. Consequently, the Alsace region—despite having a land area only one-fifth the size and a total population only one-sixth of that of its neighbor Baden-Württemberg—has almost as many municipalities. The small Alsace region has more than double the number of municipalities compared to the large and populous state of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] (396 ''Gemeinden'' in September 2007).
=== Status of the communes ===
Despite enormous differences in population, each of the communes of the French Republic possesspossesses a [[Mayor (France)|mayor]] (''maire'') and a [[City council (France)|municipal council]] (''conseil municipal''), which jointly manage the commune from the [[City hall (administration)|municipal hall]] (''mairie''), with exactly the same powers no matter the size of the commune. This uniformity of status is a legacy of the French Revolution, which wanted to do away with the local idiosyncrasies and tremendous differences ofin status that existed in the kingdom of France.
French law makes allowances for the vast differences in commune size in a number of areas of administrative law. The size of the municipal council, the method of electing the municipal council, the maximum allowable pay of the mayor and deputy mayors, and municipal campaign finance limits (among other features) all depend on the population echelon into which a particular commune falls.
Since the PLM Law of 1982, three French communes also have a special status in that they are further divided into [[Municipal arrondissement in France|municipal arrondissements]]: these are Paris, [[Marseille]], and [[Lyon]]. The [[municipal arrondissement]] is the only administrative unit below the commune in the French Republic, but existingexists only in these three communes. These municipal arrondissements are not to be confused with the [[French arrondissements|arrondissements]] that are subdivisions of French ''départements'': French communes are considered [[Juristic person|legal entities]], whereas municipal arrondissements, by contrast, have no official capacity and no budget of their own.
The rights and obligations of communes are governed by the ''Code général des collectivités territoriales (CGCT)'' which replaced the ''Code des communes'' (except for personnel matters) with the passage of the law of 21 February 1996 for legislation and decree number 2000-318 of 7 April 2000 for regulations.<ref>[http://www.droit.org/code/index-CGCTERRL.html Legislation] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050103093724/http://www.droit.org/code/index-CGCTERRL.html |date=3 January 2005}}</ref><ref>[http://www.droit.org/code/index-CGCTERRM.html Decree] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050112200608/http://www.droit.org/code/index-CGCTERRM.html |date=12 January 2005}}</ref>
From 1794 to 1977 — except for a few months in 1848 and 1870-1871 — Paris had no mayor and was thus directly controlled by the departmental prefect. This meant that Paris had less autonomy than thecertain smallesttowns villageor villages. Even after Paris regained the right to elect its own mayor in 1977, the central government retained control of the Paris police. In all other French communes, the municipal police are under the mayor's supervision.
== History of the French communes ==
Line 181:
==== Chartered cities ====
Additionally, some cities had obtained [[charter]]s during the Middle Ages, either from the king himself or from local counts or dukes (such as the city of [[Toulouse]] chartered by the counts of Toulouse). These cities were made up of several parishes (up to {{circa}} 50 parishes in the case of Paris), and they were usually enclosed by a [[defensive wall]]. They had been emancipated from the power of feudal lords in the 12th and 13th centuries, had municipal bodies which administered the city, and bore some resemblance with the communes that the French Revolution would establish except for two key points:
* these municipal bodies were not democratic; they were usually in the hands of some rich bourgeois families upon whom, over time, nobility had been conferred, so they can be better labeled as [[oligarchies]] rather than municipal democracies.
* there was no uniform status for these chartered cities, each one having its own status and specific organization.
In the north, cities tended to be administered by ''échevins'' (from an old Germanic word meaning judge), while in the south, cities tended to be administered by ''consuls'' (in a clear reference to Roman antiquity), but [[Bordeaux]] was administered by ''[[jurat]]s'' (etymologically meaning "sworn men") and Toulouse by ''capitouls'' ("men of the chapter"). Usually, there was no mayor in the modern sense; all the ''échevins'' or ''consuls'' were on equal footing, and rendered decisions collegially. However, for certain purposes, there was one ''échevin'' or ''consul'' ranking above the others, a sort of mayor, although not with the same authority and executive powers as a modern mayor. This "mayor" was called [[Provost (civil)|provost of the merchants]] (''prévôt des marchands'') in Paris and Lyon; ''maire'' in Marseille, Bordeaux, [[Rouen]], [[Orléans]], [[Bayonne]] and many other cities and towns; ''mayeur'' in [[Lille]]; ''premier capitoul'' in Toulouse; ''viguier'' in [[Montpellier]]; ''premier consul'' in many towns of southern France; ''prêteur royal'' in [[Strasbourg]]; ''maître échevin'' in [[Metz]]; ''maire royal'' in [[Nancy, France|Nancy]]; or ''prévôt'' in [[Valenciennes]].
=== French Revolution ===
On 14 July 1789, at the end of the afternoon, following the [[storming of the Bastille]], the provost of the merchants of Paris, [[Jacques de Flesselles]] was shot by the crowd on the steps of Paris City Hall.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mark |first=Harrison W. |title=Storming of the Bastille |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Storming_of_the_Bastille/ |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en |archive-date=4 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204230414/https://www.worldhistory.org/Storming_of_the_Bastille/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Although in the Middle Ages the provosts of the merchants symbolized the independence of Paris and even had openly rebelled against King [[Charles V of France|Charles V]], their office had been suppressed by the king, then reinstated but with strict control from the king, and so they had ended up being viewed by the people as yet another representative of the king, no longer the embodiment of a free municipality.
Following that event, a [[Paris Commune (1789–1795)|"commune" of Paris]] was immediately set up to replace the old medieval chartered city of Paris, and a municipal guard was established to protect Paris against any attempt made by King [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]] to quell the ongoing revolution. Several other cities of France quickly followed suit, and communes arose everywhere, each with their municipal guard. On 14 December 1789, the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Assembly]] (''Assemblée Nationale'') passed a law creating the commune,{{Dubious|Dubious history|date=December 2022}} designed to be the lowest level of administrative division in France, thus endorsing these independently created communes, but also creating communes of its own. In this area as in many others, the work of the National Assembly was, properly speaking, revolutionary: not content with transforming all the chartered cities and towns into communes, the National Assembly also decided to turn all the village parishes into full-status communes. The Revolutionaries were inspired by [[René Descartes|Cartesian]] ideas as well as by the philosophy of the [[The Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. They wanted to do away with all the peculiarities of the past and establish a perfect society, in which all and everything should be equal and set up according to reason, rather than by tradition or conservatism.
Thus, they set out to establish administrative divisions that would be uniform across the country: the whole of France would be divided into ''départements'', themselves divided into arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons, themselves divided into communes, no exceptions. All of these communes would have equal status, they would all have a mayor at their head, and a municipal council elected by the inhabitants of the commune. This was a real revolution for the thousands of villages that never had experienced organized municipal life before. A communal house had to be built in each of these villages, which would house the meetings of the municipal council as well as the administration of the commune. Some in the National Assembly were opposed to such a fragmentation of France into thousands of communes, but eventually [[Honoré Mirabeau|Mirabeau]] and his ideas of one commune for each parish prevailed.
On 20 September 1792, the recording of births, marriages, and deaths also was withdrawn as a responsibility of the priests of the parishes and handed to the mayors.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-11-17 |title=The Territorial Archives will recover eight parish registers from the eighteenth century |url=http://www.soualigapost.com/en/news/6879/culture/territorial-archives-will-recover-eight-parish-registers-eighteenth-century |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=www.soualigapost.com |language=en |archive-date=4 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204230424/http://www.soualigapost.com/en/news/6879/culture/territorial-archives-will-recover-eight-parish-registers-eighteenth-century |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hayward |first=Jack |title=Fragmented France |date=2007-04-26 |chapter=French Identity: The National Search for Retrospective Legitimacy and Unanimity |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/book/11495/chapter/160219476 |pages=41–66 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216314.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-921631-4 |quote=On 20 September 1792, following the massacre of some 250 priests, the Legislative Assembly secularized the registration of births, marriages, and deaths, which became the responsibility of mayors.}}</ref> Civil marriages were established and started to be performed in the ''mairie'' with a ceremony not unlike the traditional one, with the mayor replacing the priest, and the name of the law replacing the name of God ("''Au nom de la loi, je vous déclare unis par les liens du mariage.''" – "In the name of the law, I declare you united by the bonds of marriage."). Priests were forced to surrender their centuries-old baptism, marriage, and burial books, which were deposited in the ''mairies''. These abrupt changes profoundly alienated devout Catholics, and France soon was plunged into the throes of [[civil war]], with the fervently religious regions of western France at its center. It would take [[Napoleon I]] to re-establish peace in France, stabilize the new administrative system, and make it generally accepted by the population. Napoleon also abolished the election of the municipal councils, which now were chosen by the [[prefect]], the local representative of the central government.
=== Trends after the French Revolution ===
Line 213:
Mergers, however, are not easy to achieve. One problem is that mergers reduce the number of available elected positions, and thus are not popular with local politicians. Moreover, citizens from one village may be unwilling to have their local services run by an executive located in another village, whom they may consider unaware of or inattentive to their local needs.
In December 2010 the law n° 2010-1563 regarding reform of territorial collectivities was adopted, which created the legal framework for the ''communes nouvelles'' (lit. "new communes").<ref>[https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/loi/2010/12/16/IOCX0922788L/jo/texte Loi n° 2010-1563 du 16 décembre 2010 de réforme des collectivités territoriales] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908082824/http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/loi/2010/12/16/IOCX0922788L/jo/texte |date=8 September 2015 }}, ''[[Légifrance]]''</ref> A ''commune nouvelle'' can be created by merger of a number of communes at the request of the municipal councils of all the communes or at the initiative of the state representative in the department (the [[Prefect (France)|prefect]]). The municipal council of the new commune can decide to create ''communes déléguées'' (lit. "delegated communes") in the place of the former communes, which are represented by a delegated mayor and a delegated council. Between 2012 and 2021, about 820 ''communes nouvelles'' have been established, replacing about 2,550 old communes.
=== Intercommunality ===
Line 221:
In recent years it has become increasingly common for communes to band together in intercommunal [[consortium|consortia]] for the provision of such services as refuse collection and water supply. Suburban communes often team up with the city at the core of their urban area to form a community charged with managing public transport or even administering the collection of local taxes.
The Chevènement law tidied up all these practices, abolishing some structures and creating new ones. In addition, it offered central government finance aimed at encouraging further communes to join in intercommunal structures. Unlike the only partially successful statute enacted in 1966 and enabling urban communes to form urban communities, or the more marked failure of the [[Marcellin law]] of 1971, the Chevènement law met with a large measure of success, so that a majority of French communes are now involved in intercommunal structures.
There are two types of these structures:
Line 231:
** the metropolis (''[[métropole]]''), established in 2014, aimed at the largest cities and their suburbs.
:These three structures are given varying levels of fiscal power, with the community of agglomeration and the urban community having the most fiscal power, levying the local tax on corporations (''taxe professionnelle'') in their own name instead of those of the communes, and with the same level of taxation across the communes of the community. The communities must also manage some services previously performed by the communes, such as garbage collection or transport, but the law also makes it mandatory for the communities to manage other areas such as economic planning and development, housing projects, or environment protection. Communities of communes are required to manage the fewest areas, leaving the communes more autonomous, while urban communities are required to manage most matters, leaving the communes within them with less autonomy.
==== Allocation of government money ====
Line 240:
These impressive results however may hide a murkier reality. In rural areas, many communes have entered a community of communes only to benefit from government funds. Often the local syndicate has been turned officially into a community of communes, the new community of communes in fact managing only the services previously managed by the syndicate, contrary to the spirit of the law which has established the new intercommunal structures to carry out a much broader range of activities than that undertaken by the old syndicates. Some say that, should government money transfers be stopped, many of these communities of communes would revert to their former status of syndicate, or simply completely disappear in places where there were no syndicates prior to the law.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}
In urban areas, the new intercommunal structures are much more a reality, being created by local decision-makers out of genuine belief in the worth of working together. However, in many places, local feuds have arisen, and it was not possible to set up an intercommunal structure for the whole of the urban area: some communes refusing to take part in it, or even creating their own structure. In some urban areas like Marseille there exist four distinct intercommunal structures! In many areas, rich communes have joined with other rich communes and have refused to let in poorer communes, for fear that their citizens would be overtaxed to the benefit of poorer suburbs.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}
Moreover, intercommunal structures in many urban areas are still new, and fragile: Tensions exist between communes; the city at the center of the urban area often is suspected of wishing to dominate the suburban communes; communes from opposing political sides also may be suspicious of each other.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}
Line 246:
Two famous examples of this are Toulouse and Paris. In Toulouse, on top of there being six intercommunal structures, the main community of Toulouse and its suburbs is only a community of agglomeration, although Toulouse is large enough to create an Urban Community according to the law. This is because the suburban communes refused an urban community for fear of losing too much power, and opted for a community of agglomeration, despite the fact that a community of agglomeration receives less government funds than an urban community. As for Paris, no intercommunal structure has emerged there, the suburbs of Paris fearing the concept of a "Greater Paris", and so disunity still is the rule in the metropolitan area, with the suburbs of Paris creating many different intercommunal structures all without the city.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}
One major often raised problem with intercommunality, is the fact that the intercommunal structures are not subject to directlydirect election by the people, so it is the representatives of each individual commune that sit in the new structure. As a consequence, civil servants and bureaucrats are the ones setting up the agenda and implementing it, with the elected representatives of the communes only endorsing key decisions.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}
== Classification ==
Line 262:
=== Most and least populous communes ===
*[[Paris]] is the most populous commune of France with 2,187,526 residents as of 2017.<ref name=pop2017>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/4265429/ensemble.pdf Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2017] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201005055240/https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/4265429/ensemble.pdf |date=5 October 2020 }}, [[Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques|INSEE]]</ref>
*Six of the [[French villages destroyed in the First World War]] have never been rebuilt. All are found in the ''département'' of [[Meuse (department)|Meuse]] and were destroyed during the [[Battle of Verdun]] in 1916. After the war, it was decided that the land previously occupied by the destroyed villages would not be incorporated into other communes, as a testament to these villages which had "died for France", as they were declared, and to preserve their memory. The following communes are entirely unpopulated and are managed by a council of three members, appointed by the [[Prefect (France)|prefect]] of Meuse:
**[[Beaumont-en-Verdunois]]
Line 317:
* [[Comune]] (Italy)
* [[Urban area (France)|Urban areas France]]
* [[National Powder Factory of Ripault]]
== References ==
Line 324 ⟶ 325:
=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* ''[[La Documentation française]]'' ''[http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/dossiers/intercommunalite/index.shtml Le développement de l'intercommunalité: la révolution discrète] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051012153302/http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/dossiers/intercommunalite/index.shtml |date=12 October 2005 }}'' {{in lang|fr}}
* ''[http://www.lescommunes.com/ Les villes et communes de France] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710203844/https://www.lescommunes.com/ |date=10 July 2019 }}'' lescommunes.com: contacts, offices du tourisme et maire, Hall and Tourist Office, statistiques, photographies. {{in lang|fr}}
* Maryvonne Bonnard, ''Les collectivités territoriales en France'', 2005, ''La Documentation française'', {{ISBN|2-11-005874-9}} {{in lang|fr}}
* {{cite journal |author=Cour des comptes |date=2005 |title=L'intercommunalité en France |publication-place=Paris |url=https://www.vie-publique.fr/sites/default/files/rapport/pdf/054004449.pdf |language= |journal=Journaux Officiels |volume= |issue= |pages=370 |ref={{SfnRef|Cour des Comptes|2005}} |access-date=8 February 2022 |archive-date=2 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102131455/https://www.vie-publique.fr/sites/default/files/rapport/pdf/054004449.pdf |url-status=live }}
{{refend}}
Line 343 ⟶ 344:
[[Category:Local government in France]]
[[Category:LAU statistical regions of the European Union|France]]
[[Category:Municipalities| ]]