Réforme des collectivités et régionalisation en France: un horizon a géométrie variable

Reform of Collectivities and Regionalisation in France: A Horizon of Variable Geometry. Initially considered as a highly profitable solution that best fits the spatial organization of France, the resulted administrative cutting gave rise to the multiplication of some supra-communal and intra-departmental structures, contrary to the purpose they had been created for: socio-economic efficiency, territorial cohesion, as well as to institutionalisation. What territorial organization in France is lacking at present is exactly the absence of the interrelations between different territorial levels, the legislative levers being those that can manage these intra- and extra-regional relations. The consequences of decentralization, interpreted by the existence of a multitude of territorial entities between department/county and communes, non-hierarchized, without assuming any responsibility, can and must be corrected by legislative regulations, the reform of territorial collectivities - a regional reform at the same time, left in the hands of Balladur committee, being one of them. The main directions of territorial organization require a focus on merging, namely on suppressing the territorial-administrative units (e.g. canton), the decrease in the number of regional councillors, the promotion of intercommunal associations, the suppression of regional assemblies, the equivalence of the number of regions with the number of regional metropolises, the strengthening of interterritorial relations, directions found only partially in the Balladur report.