French Decentralisation (Décentralisation)
Foundations of French Decentralisation
French decentralisation (décentralisation) denotes the transfer of administrative powers and responsibilities from the central State to locally elected authorities known as collectivités territoriales. This process stands in contrast to déconcentration, which merely redistributes central administrative functions within State field services without transferring political authority. Since 1982, decentralisation has fundamentally reshaped French public administration, transforming a historically centralised Jacobin state into a multi-layered system of territorial governance.
The modern decentralisation movement began with the loi Deferre (Law of 2 March 1982 on the Rights and Freedoms of Communes, Departments and Regions), named after Interior Minister Gaston Deferre. This landmark statute abolished the pre-existing system of tutelle administrative — the prior approval power exercised by the préfet over local authority decisions — and replaced it with contrôle de légalité, a posteriori judicial review by the administrative courts. The loi Deferre elevated the région to a full collectivité territoriale with an elected council, and transferred significant executive powers from the préfet to the président du conseil général (department) and président du conseil régional (region).
The Three Tiers of Territorial Administration
French territory is organised into three principal tiers of collectivités territoriales. At the base are the communes, numbering approximately 35,000, ranging from small rural villages to large cities such as Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. Each commune is governed by a conseil municipal (municipal council) elected by universal suffrage, which in turn elects the maire (mayor). The mayor serves both as the executive of the commune and, in a dual capacity, as an agent of the State for certain functions such as civil registration and electoral administration.
The department (département) constitutes the intermediate tier. Each of the 95 metropolitan departments (plus five overseas departments) is administered by a conseil départemental (formerly conseil général) elected by cantonal constituencies. The président du conseil départemental exercises executive authority. Departments are responsible for social welfare (aide sociale), child protection, road infrastructure, and secondary school (collège) management. The region (région) forms the highest tier. The 13 metropolitan regions (18 including overseas) are governed by a conseil régional and its president, with responsibility for economic development, vocational training, secondary school (lycée) construction and maintenance, and regional public transport.
The Actes of Decentralisation
The decentralisation process unfolded in successive waves known as actes. The Acte I (1982–1983) comprised the loi Deferre and accompanying statutes that transferred competences in urban planning, social action, and education, and established the principle that each tier exercises competences defined by law. The Acte II, initiated by the constitutional revision of 28 March 2003, inserted the principle of décentralisation into Article 1 of the Constitution, recognising the organisation décentralisée of the Republic. It also introduced the référendum local and the droit de pétition, and granted collectivités territoriales the power to expérimenter — to derogate temporarily from legislative norms within their competences. The loi du 13 août 2004 on local liberties and responsibilities transferred additional competences in transport, culture, housing, and economic development.
The Acte III, launched by the loi NOTRe (Law of 7 August 2015 on the New Territorial Organisation of the Republic), sought to rationalise the allocation of competences and reduce overlapping responsibilities. The loi NOTRe confirmed the region as the lead authority for economic development and abolished the clause générale de compétence for departments and regions, limiting them to competences expressly assigned by law. The loi MAPTAM (Law of 27 January 2014 on the Modernisation of Territorial Public Action) had earlier introduced the métropole — a new inter-municipal structure for major urban areas such as Lyon, Aix-Marseille, and Grand Paris, endowed with extensive competences transferred from both the department and the region.
Revenue Sources and Financial Autonomy
The financial autonomy of collectivités territoriales rests on a combination of local taxes, State transfers, and borrowing. Local taxation includes the taxe foncière on built and unbuilt property, the cotisation foncière des entreprises (CFE), and the cotisation sur la valeur ajoutée des entreprises (CVAE). The taxe d’habitation on primary residences was phased out by 2023 under the loi de finances reforms. State transfers include the dotation globale de fonctionnement (DGF), a block grant calculated on population, fiscal capacity, and other criteria, which compensates for disparities in local revenue-raising capacity. The constitutional principle of libre administration (Article 72 of the Constitution) guarantees that collectivités territoriales are self-governing through elected councils and possess their own revenue sources, though their fiscal autonomy has been progressively constrained by the reduction of local taxes and the increasing share of State transfers.
Allocation of Compétences
The distribution of competences among tiers operates on the principle of clarification: each category of collectivité territoriale exercises specific attributions defined by statute. Communes manage urban planning (local land-use plans, PLU), primary education (school buildings and maintenance), water and sanitation, local roads, and municipal police. Departments handle social welfare (RSA, aide sociale à l’enfance), rural roads, and collèges. Regions lead on economic development, vocational training, lycées, regional transport (including TER trains), and European structural funds. The loi NOTRe reinforced the region’s lead role in economic development by transferring responsibility for aides aux entreprises from departments to regions.
The Préfet and State Oversight
The préfet remains the representative of the State in each department and region, responsible for supervising the legality of local authority acts through the contrôle de légalité. When a local authority adopts a decision (délibération) that the préfet considers unlawful, the préfet refers it to the tribunal administratif for annulment rather than blocking it preemptively. This reform replaced the former tutelle with a judicial mechanism consistent with the principle of libre administration. The préfet also coordinates State field services, manages public order and security, and exercises emergency powers, including the substitution of local authorities in cases of default.