Local Authorities in French Law Regarding Their Relationship with Central Government
Çağla TansuğFrench administrative law has had an impact on the arrangement of Turkish administrative law and its structure. Nonetheless, significant differences have arisen between the two legal systems due to recent regulations. This study aims to analyze the relationship between local authorities and the central government in French law alongside the evolution of décentralisation [decentralization] with regards to a centralization policy. First the study explains the term collectivité territoriale [territorial community], as it defines local authorities, and then examines the evolution of the decentralization policy through the dispositions of French Law No. 2022-217 from February 2022. The decentralization policy didn’t occur in the French Constitution of 1958 until an amendment in 2003. Until then, the principle of the free administration of territorial communities had assured the administrative autonomy of local authorities.
After this, the study will thirdly address the organization and functioning of local authorities regarding the competencies of the central government over local authorities. However, the centralization policy has remained dominant in legal regulations despite the increase in some local authorities’ powers. Finally, the study will analyze the changes in the French central government’s power of control over local authorities in reference to administrative supervision institutions in Turkish law and with regard to two dimensions: the transformation of administrative supervision (tutelle administrative) over administrative acts into prefectural application for judicial review (déféré préfectoral), and the preservation of dispositions related to administrative supervision over administrative organs. Consequently, the study has been unable to conclude that local authorities and the policy of decentralization had built up a strong position over centralization, even during the period following the constitution amendment favoring decentralization in 2003.
Merkezi İdareyle İlişkileri Bakımından Fransız Hukukunda Mahalli İdareler
Çağla TansuğTürk idare hukukunun ve Türk idari teşkilatının düzenlenmesinde Fransız idare hukukundan da yararlanılmıştır. Ne var ki mahalli idarelerin teşkilatlanması, görev ve yetkileri ile işleyişi alanındaki güncel düzenlemeler, iki hukuk sistemi arasında önemli farklar bulunduğunu göstermektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Fransız hukukunda mahalli idarelerin merkezi idareyle ilişkilerini ve bu doğrultuda décentralisation (yerinden yönetim) esasının merkezden yönetim esası karşısındaki gelişimini, 2022 yılı şubat ayında yapılan kanun değişikliklerini de dikkate alarak idare hukuku bakış açısıyla incelemektir.
Bu amaçla öncelikle, Fransız hukukunda mahalli idareler kategorisini adlandırmakta kullanılan collectivité territoriale terimi üzerinde durulmuştur. İkinci aşamada, décentralisation esasının merkezden yönetim gölgesindeki gelişimi incelenmiştir. Bu kapsamda, yerinden yönetim ilkesinin 1958 Anayasa’sında ancak 2003 yılında yer alabildiği görülmüştür. Bu zamana kadar geçen sürede, mahalli idarelerin serbest yönetimi ilkesinin, merkezi yönetim karşısında mahalli idarelerin idari ve mali özerkliğini sağlamada önemli rol oynadığı anlaşılmıştır. Üçüncü aşamada, Fransa’da mahalli idarelerin teşkilatlanması ve işleyişi, özellikle merkezi idarenin mahalli idareler üzerindeki yetkileri gözetilerek ve beldelerarası iş birliğine yönelik kamu kurumlarına değinilerek ele alınmıştır. Mahalli idarelerin yetkileri artırıldığında dahi, merkezden yönetim esasının ağırlıklı olduğu düzenlemelerin mevcudiyetinin korunduğu tespit edilmiştir. Son olarak, merkezi idarenin mahalli idareler üzerindeki denetim yetkilerindeki değişim, işlemler üzerinde idari vesayet müessesinin valilik başvurusuna dönüşümü ve organlar üzerinde idari vesayete ilişkin hükümlerin muhafazası boyutlarıyla, Türk hukukundaki idari vesayet müessesesine de değinilerek ele alınmıştır.
Yapılan tespitler değerlendirildiğinde, 1958 Anayasası’nda 2003 yılında yapılan değişiklikle décentralisation esasının Anayasal dayanağa kavuştuğu tarihten günümüze kadar olan süreç dikkate alındığında dahi, Fransa’da mahalli idarelerin ve yerinden yönetim esasının merkezden yönetim esası karşısında emin adımlarla güçlenmekte olduğu sonucuna varmak mümkün görünmemektedir.
French administrative law has had an impact on the organization of Turkish administrative law and its structure. Nonetheless, significant differences have arisen between the two legal systems due to regulations on the organization, duties, powers, and functioning of local authorities. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between local authorities and central government in French law and the evolution of decentralization with regards to the French centralization policy in terms of administrative law by taking into consideration the amendments adopted into the French constitution by Law No. 2022-217 (in force since February 2022). The study is limited to the principles guaranteed by the French Constitution of 1958 and the enacted laws. The study has omitted legislation on overseas and special-status territorial communities, including Corsica, from its scope as they include exceptional rules that do not reflect the main features of the relationship between local authorities and the central government.
The study first focuses on the term collectivité territoriale [territorial communities], with territorial referring to the centralization policy, while the term administration is not used in any way. The change to concept of local community as a term into a territorial community with the French Constitutional Amendments of 2003 is seen to have been not a coincidence but a clear indication of the dominance of France’s tradition of centralization.
The second part of the study analyzes the evolution of the decentralization policy in the shadow of centralization, particularly in light of Law No. 2022-217 enacted in February 2022. The decentralization policy hadn’t taken place in the French Constitution of 1958 until an amendment in 2003. Until then, the principle of territorial communities’ free administration assured the administrative autonomy by local authorities instead of the central government. 3
Another principle supporting the administrative autonomy of local authorities in French law is the clause of general competence that takes its roots from the Municipal Code of 1884. Article 72/2 of the Constitution mentions that territorial communities may make decisions regarding all matters arising under powers that can best be exercised at their level. This disposition has been adopted to comply with the principle of subsidiarity in the next step of constitutionalizing decentralization that occurred in 2003. Within the context of the regulations adopted to empower local authorities in 1982, the general clause regarding the scope of application of competences was expanded to include district, departmental, and regional authorities. In the following years, only district authorities remained within this scope. The differentiation principle, being the greatest innovation of Law No. 2022-217, appears to have avoided the negative effects of excluding departmental and regional authorities from being able to take advantage of the general clause of competence. This law was prepared on the basis of the conclusions from the Great National Debate of 2019 following the intense social events known as the Yellow Vest Protests.
The third part of this study focuses on the organization and functioning of local authorities regarding the relationship between local authorities and the central government. The decentralization policy has clearly gained power since 1982, especially by being constitutionalized in 2003. Nonetheless, local authorities have yet to prevail against the central government. Indeed, the elected communé [community] mayors still have a hierarchical relationship with the central government in certain areas. Because no minimum population condition exists for their establishment, nearly 35,000 commune authorities are found in France. Hence, they are in a situation where some of them cannot even give local public services due to a lack of resources. These services are instead provided by public establishments for cooperation between local authorities. Even though some regulations have been adopted to expand the competencies of departmental and regional authorities, their exclusion from the scope of the clause of general competency has continued to produce negative effects alongside the limited financial resources. Although Law No. 2022-217 had been adopted as a result of the debates arising from previous social events, scholars mention that has not brought as many changes as expected for strengthening decentralization.
The fourth part of the study concerns the administrative control powers the central government has over local authorities. These powers are explained on the grounds of protecting general public interest in the face of local public interest or as the continuity of public services. Nevertheless, governors’ administrative supervisory competency over local authorities’ actions has been replaced by an institution of prefectural application for judicial review, which enables the governor to apply to the competent First Instance Court regarding any illegalities arising from the concerned administrative actions or contracts. Supervision as a term has been removed from the 4
Constitution with the amendments of 2003, with the term of administrative control having taken its place. However, the regulations regarding the central government’s administrative supervision over local authorities still exist, as well as those concerning the power of substitution.
Consequently, the central government still has significant powers over local authorities. The study has been unable to conclude the local authorities or the policy of decentralization in France to have built up a strong position over centralization, even after decentralization had been constitutionalized in 2003.
