Decentralisation, Jean-Pierre Raffarin's challenge

by Robert ASSADOURIAN

The Provencal session of the Assizes of Local Liberties on 25th October 2002 in Marseille bears the mark of our region in the great construction site of the decentralisation desired by Jean-Pierre Raffarin. He sees himself as the successor of Gaston Deferre, initiator of this method and from which the decentralisation laws of 1982 contributed to free the local governments of the custody of the Prefects.

More than anywhere else, our region, because of its estrangement, its rich historic past and its Mediterranean window, stressed by the ambitious project " Euroméditerranée ", has always
acclaimed decentralisation, which would enable it to become a real north-south link.
The debate began on October 15th with the project of constitutional laws that was presented to the Cabinet of Ministers. It was extended to Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur by the launch on October 17th of preparatory workshops concerning culture in Avignon, economic development and proximity equipment in Digne, town planning and environment in Toulon, tourism and sport in Gap, land planning in Nice.
The third Assizes of Local Liberties were held in Marseille on October 25th 2002, where they gathered together elected members and entrepreneurs of PACA in the Pharo Palace. Massively attended, they triggered off a movement in favour of decentralisation whose objectives are to make spring from the ground the decisions to test unequal situations in an equal way. The territorial fracture does not have to stress the social fracture. A successful decentralisation would succeed in recreating the link between the French and the institutions.
For Jean-Claude Gaudin, it takes the right direction when it entrusts the executive responsibilities to the territorial councils, but he worries about their number. He adds that Marseille is a candidate in the experiment concerning accommodation. Furthermore, the transfer of the French Centre of Foreign Trade to Marseille would save 80 million euro. Michel Vauzelle, on the occasion of the plan contract, worries about the place of politics in the State-Region relations, whereas Jean-Noël Guérini would see more coherence in the extension of the missions for the County. The division into numerous sections, from primary schools up to universities, or that of the roads is often difficult to manage.
Patrick Déverdjian, State Minister for the Local Liberties, insists on the experiment that is necessary in many cases to erase the disparities or the difficulties of management. It is for him a useful jurisprudential construction in certain cases because it is limited, reversible, and can be constantly evaluated.
The Prime Minister immediately sets the tone : we are reunited by the spirit of May 2002. He adds that he would be keen to welcome a project emanating from PACA. He denounces the systems, the procedures, and the structures. He wishes for more legibility because things block at the top. Are they not the reason for being of certain administrations ?
The region is a rung of the Republic and not a Euro-region federated in Brussels. Its project has the merit of being clear, but will everybody understand it?

Why did Jean-Pierre Raffarin dash into this project that bears his mark ?

For J.P. Raffarin, decentralisation is firstly a political answer to a great social disturbance. He wishes to reunite what was scattered for a long time. The message of the presidential ballot of April 21st 2002 is the reflection of a Republic, which he considers complexed. It is that of an indifference of the French for politics, whose impotence to resolve problems feeds a popular exasperation.
The second tour on 5th May 2002 gathered around Jacques Chirac Frenchmen of different horizons. They showed their affection to the institutions of the Republic. If they dispute the functioning, they remain attached to the republican values.
Nevertheless this Republic accumulates fastidious procedures and dysfunctions. The actors do not always master their fate, the systems have accumulated procedures and complexities. Both citizens and entrepreneurs get lost there. For J.P. Raffarin, to decentralise is to simplify, it is to put proximity along side complexity, it is to release at the top that which blocks the system, it is to put within the reach of the French and the voters more legibility in the management and the decisions which concern them.
The French are in expectation, the Prime Minister replies by dynamism and projects. He wants to favour the lower class in France and build a Republic of proximity, closer to the citizens and more efficient.

But what are the major axes of decentralisation?
The State concentrates on its kingly missions that extend over the whole national space: order, security, justice, national defence, finances, the control of Government expenditure. On the other hand, a real power is proposed to the Regions, the Counties, the local councils :
- The transfer of competence with the principle of subsidiarity for corollary
- The right to experiment
- The State’s duty of adjustment
- The respect of the financial autonomy of the regions
- And finally, give the citizens the possibility to express themselves.
The transfers of competence granted to the regions will answer the Principle of Subsidiarity. The decision must be taken as close as possible to the land. But eventually a simplification will be imperative because these communities are very redundant. The transfer must not lead to a paralysing dilution of the transferred power. It will be necessary to choose between the County and the Region on one hand, and the Municipality and the Intermunicipality on the other! Furthermore, the transfer of financial means must not entail the creation of a new body of "decentralized" civil servants.
An example not to be followed is the creation of the DRH (Regional Management of Hospitals), which did not relieve the DRASS or the DASS (Regional and County Management of the Sanitary and Social Action), nevertheless relieved from a large part of their respective missions. This administrative reshaping risks to be badly lived and to create blockings.
The Decentralization implies sometimes heavy new responsibilities for the local elected members, a modification of the states of mind, which all are perhaps not ready to assume psychologically. To modernise the public service, to reform the local tax system or to reconsider the territorial architecture are so many challenges to be taken up for an effective decentralization. But the revision of the mentalities will be more difficult to succeed than that of a simple transfer of financial means. It is one of the keys to the success of the project.
" When it is simple we organize the total transfer, when it is complicated we experiment " asserted the Prime Minister in Marseille.
Experimentation is a commonplace method for scientists. However, for the politico-administrative executives and the citizens it is original and even against nature. Experimentation introduces a new notion, that of the desolation of a taken decision, which will not be transformed into an acquired advantage! It entails a flexibility that could continue until a true questioning !
The duty of adjustment leads to compensating the losses connected to these transfers by solidarity between the territories. This duty must not punish the dynamic regions, but an egalitarian France must not become a Federation of autonomous Regions. This balance between both tendencies could prove delicate to maintain.
The financial autonomy of the local governments introduces a notion of direct responsibility. This independence blocks all appeal to the State in case of an error of management.
A local right of petition and referendum is proposed to the citizens to make them feel responsible. This reform implies a true responsibility and citizen maturity. It forces the elected members to be preoccupied about the territory more than every 5 years at the time of elections.
This reform will require a modification of certain articles of the Constitution. To be applicable, decentralization firstly relies on a constitutional reform that will offer the necessary means, that is to create the climate favourable to an evolution by giving control levers that will awaken the creativity of the citizens at the risk of encountering political hesitations:
- France remains indivisible, but " its organisation is decentralised " he adds (art 1)
- Bills with local incidence will firstly be submitted to the Senate (art 39)
- Regions are recognized in the article 72, but a leader can be appointed from the existing communities.
- The right of petition, the right of referendum are proposed on one hand to the citizens and on the other hand to the local governments.
- Any transfer of competence between the State and the regions entails resources equivalent to those that were dedicated to them.
- Furthermore, the disparities of the resources between local governments are notably corrected by the application of a device of adjustment.
- Certain overseas communities, taking into account their specificity, could be authorized to fix the rules applicable to their territory …
After a reception without reserves, the political hesitations concerning the decentralization were revealed. By considering it as an integral decentralization, Jean-Louis Debré is sharply hostile to the project. Whereas Charles Pasqua sees in it the germ of the destruction of the nation ! Cautious, Jean-Claude Gaudin expresses reserves on the perverse effects of petitions.
The socialist group does not accept the place granted to the Senate. Furthermore, Jean Marc Eyraud considers that things are badly engaged, whereas Claude Estier evokes the grave consequences that the vague and improvised part of the text could have. Ségolène Royal, usually more original, adds that JL Debré said out loud what many conservative MPs think in silence. The Constitutional Council is concerned about a decentralized France. Many elected members and assemblies, who know that they are in excess, are anxious about their future ! The simplification must eliminate cumbersome procedures and redundancies.
" Decentralization conceals a part of adventure" answers Patrick Devedjian. The sorcerer's apprentices of the reform risk to perturb the model of the Republic whose unity is rather Jacobin. François Fillon, Minister of Social Affairs, fears the disintegration of the French model, and insists on the idea of a sole indivisible Republic. For him, unity is an essential constituent of the national unity. The right for the difference, which enables Corsica to have an organisation and competences which belong to them only, is essential for Nicolas Sarkozy. As an example, he refers to Spain and its 17 autonomous communities with very variable competences. This autonomy did not prevent the Spanish provinces from becoming important within Europe, he says. However he doesn’t mention the fact that the Spaniards have a true and very ancient regional culture.
The Prime Minister, a new person at the highest level, commits himself to a bold reform which acts as an electric shock for the citizen, made an abstainer and indifferent by the opaqueness which surrounds all political decisions. His bet is ambitious : by valuing local power, he hopes to give a sense to his method and move closer to the voter of the urn, to the citizen disenchanted and even passive in the political debate. This passivity feeds abstention, which is a real social dismissal and can become dangerous by favouring the emergence of all kinds of extremes or excesses.
For Jean Pierre Raffarin, decentralization is not a stake in power. It is a political answer to a social problem. For him, it is a question of simplifying and improving the life of the French by making the public service more efficient. It is a big upheaval of customs, which seems to us of rather liberal inspiration.