Consequences of the constitutional reform of 2003 in the organization of the French State

Abstract

At the end of the provisional inventory of the French decentralization  after the constitutional  reform  of  March  of 2003, it is fitting to highlight the persistence of the constitutional form of the unitary State. Any innovation regarding this characteristic can only be interpreted strictly. And nevertheless, the structure of the relationships between territorial public people (State and communities) is only the tip of the iceberg. Actually, in situ, it another century-old movement with a  twenty  year  acceleration  - the one that characterizes the decentralized administration of local matters: the grouping of territorial communities inside other public people, the public establishments of local cooperation (EPCL) that increasingly  replace  the  municipalities  in the  administration of masses or in questions of common interest for neighboring local communities. lt is certain  that  to improve  neighboring democracy, in practice there will be more to expect from these EPCL, as long as their deliberating assemblies are no longer made up of only elected locals that  designate  each  other without  the voters  seeing  them…