2023-07-12 09:00:03
During a citizen rally, in front of the city hall of Bordeaux, on July 3, 2023. The Association of Mayors of France had called for republican rallies in front of each town hall in support of the mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses ( Val-de-Marne), whose home was attacked on the night of July 1 to 2, 2023. PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP
It is in a rather gloomy context that the mayors elected in 2020 begin the second half of their mandate. In addition to the multiple crises that they have had to manage as close as possible to the field, elected municipal officials, who embody public authority and the Republic, experience with pain a weakening of local democracy. It is to dig into the reasons for this crisis and find solutions that senators from the Les Républicains (LR) party launched a fact-finding mission on January 31. The conclusions of this cross-partisan group in its composition, made public on Wednesday July 12, come at the right time.
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The resignation, in May, of the mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins (Loire-Atlantique), faced with intimidation from the far right; the media lynching of that of Carnac (Morbihan), accused, in June, of having authorized the destruction of menhirs for the construction of a DIY store; the attempted assassination of their counterpart in L’Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne), in July, during the urban riots… Each time, the mayor appears both challenged and hampered in his action.
Like the Association of Mayors of France, the senators believe that it is necessary “to blow a wind of freedom”. Since the great law of 1884, which governs its principles, the municipal institution has proved its usefulness. According to a survey commissioned by the information mission at the CSA institute, 72% of French people say they are attached to the town; 58% consider it effective; 63% have a good opinion of mayors in general, whom they consider to be committed and close to their concerns.
Loss of tax autonomy
However, the clouds are gathering. In the last municipal election, in 2020, carried out during the first weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, turnout showed an impressive drop, falling, in the first round, from 63.6% in 2014 to 44.7%. An electric shock. The resignations of mayors (1,078 during the first three years of mandate) and municipal councilors (29,214 over the same period) are accelerating compared to the 2014-2020 mandate.
The causes are clear, according to the CSA survey, also carried out among mayors: “normative complexity”, “the burden of meetings and procedures”, “lack of resources”, etc. So much so that only 33.9% of them want to return in 2026.
The fact-finding mission also notes that the municipality is weakening. Municipalities are struggling to recruit, well beyond the emblematic case of town hall secretaries. They have lost fiscal autonomy, the government having withdrawn the housing tax, then the contribution on the added value of companies – even if compensation has been put in place. The senators denounce the “state disengagement” in the territories and a “extremely significant degradation of the service provided to local authorities”.
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