Centralized government is very costly in all possible plans. It is difficult for one authority to trace various processes at all levels; this is impracticable and impractical. In this regard, it is easier to divide the territory of the state into various entities, thereby optimizing the life of citizens of the country. The communes in France, which we will consider today, are the fifth level of administrative division of land in this country. We offer to understand what it is.
What is this unit
The commune in France is a unit of administrative division. Such territories are similar to civilian towns and include municipalities in the United States and Canada, Gemünden in Germany and some lands in Italy. In Britain, for example, there are no exact equivalents to this concept, since communes resemble parts of urban areas that are geographically closer to the periphery.
Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and are given significant authority to manage the settlements and land of a particular area. They are the administrative units of the fifth level of France.
The difference between communes and settlements
Communes vary widely in size and area — from large cities with millions of inhabitants, such as Paris, to small villages with a handful of inhabitants. They have names, but not all geographical areas or groups of people living together are such communities. The difference is the lack of managerial authority. With the exception of the municipal districts of the largest cities, communes are the lowest administrative division in France. They are governed by elected officials (mayor and “municipality”) with broad autonomous powers to implement national policies.
The origin of the term "commune" in the British historical context has a certain bias and implies a connection with socialist political movements or moods, a collectivist lifestyle or a certain history (after the reconstruction of the Paris Commune of 1871, which would be more appropriate to call in English as "the uprising of Paris" ) The French word commune came into circulation in the 12th century. The term is used to this day to refer to a large gathering of people united by geography (from the Latin communis - “things that were united”).
How many communes are in France?
As of January 2015, there were 36 681 communes in France, of which 36 552 in Central France and 129 abroad. That is, this number includes land in Canada, USA, Germany, Italy. French communes still largely reflect the fragmentation of the country into villages or parishes since the time of the revolution.
Local government in France
Each of the communes of the French Republic has a mayor and a council of municipal deputies who administer equivalent powers, regardless of how large the education is. The only exception is the city of Paris, where the local police are in the hands of the state, not the mayor of Paris. This uniformity of status is a legacy of the French Revolution, which, by its influence, sought to put an end to local, local characteristics and the imbalance of statuses that existed in the kingdom.
French law provides for significant differences in the size of municipalities in a number of areas of administrative law. The size of the municipal council, the method of its election, the maximum allowable payment to the mayor and his deputies, as well as the funding limits for municipal election campaigns (among other features) depend on the population of a particular commune.
Large communes
According to a law established in 1982, three French public entities also have a special status: these are Paris, Marseille and Lyon. The urban area is the only administrative unit below the commune in the French Republic. This applies only to the territories listed.
These municipal areas should not be confused with the districts that are divisions of the French departments: communes are considered legal entities, while municipal districts, on the contrary, do not have official capabilities and their own budget.
The rights and obligations of these entities are regulated by the Code of Collective Territorial Units (CGCT), which replaced the Code of Communities (with the exception of personnel issues) with the adoption of the law of February 21, 1996 and decree No. 2000-318 of April 7, 2000.
From 1794 to 1977, with the exception of a few short intervals, Paris did not have a mayor, and thus he was directly controlled by a departmental prefect. This meant that Paris had less autonomy than the smallest village.
Demographics in numbers
The average community population in the 1999 census was 380 inhabitants. Again, this is a very small number, and here France stands out among all European countries due to the lowest number of inhabitants of all areas. Communes in Switzerland or Rhineland-Palatinate may have a smaller surface area, but they are more populated. This fact of the French communities can be compared with Italy, where in 2001 the average population of the communes was 2343 people, with Belgium (11 265 people) or even Spain (564 people).
Between territorial entities there are pronounced differences in size. As mentioned, a commune can be a city of 2 million inhabitants, such as Paris, a city with a population of 10,000 people or just a village of 10 courtyards. It is generally accepted that the average number of members of a commune should be about 380 residents, but such statistics do not always find application in the actual division of subjects.
Only 8% of the French population live in 57% of the communities, while 92% are concentrated in the remaining 43% of the territories. It follows that the difference between the numbers reflecting the number of people in communes is simply enormous.
Saint Denis
Consider some of the communities located in France: Saint-Denis will be the first of them. It is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris. Saint-Denis is located 9.4 km from the center of the capital. The population, according to data for 2006, amounted to 7123 people, an area of 1.77 square meters. The subject is named after the first bishop of Paris, Saint Denis. His grave, located on a hill, has become a haven for pilgrims.
Pate
The next subject we are considering in France is the commune of Pate. According to the latest data, its population is 2064 people, the area is 13.8 square meters. m. It is located north of the center of France. The commune is known for its involvement in the centennial war. The Battle of Pate (June 18, 1429) was the culmination of the Loire campaign in the centennial war between the French and British in the north-central part of France.
The last two, but not least, communes in France are: Nice and Marseille.
Nice is the fifth most populated city in the country. The population of the subject is approximately one million people, area - 721 square meters. Nice is located on the southeast coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The choice of tourists often falls on this commune.
Marseilles
Marseille is the second largest city in France. The capital of the historical province of Provence, now it is the central subject of the department of Bush du Rhone and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It is located on the south coast of France, covers an area of 241 square kilometers, in 2012 its number was 852 516 people.