Regions of France

History

1982–2015

The term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation (2 March 1982), which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for regional representatives took place on 16 March 1986.

Between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France. Before 2011, there were four overseas regions (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion); in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth.

Reform and mergers of regions

In 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 effective 1 January 2016.

The law gave interim names for most of the new regions by combining the names of the former regions, e.g. the region composed of Aquitaine, Poitou-Charentes and Limousin was temporarily called Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes. However, the combined region of Upper and Lower Normandy was simply called "Normandy" (Normandie). Permanent names were proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016 and new names confirmed by the Conseil d'État by 30 September 2016. The legislation defining the new regions also allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to "Centre-Val de Loire" with effect from January 2015. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names.

File:France proposal regions (2009) map.svg | Édouard Balladur's proposal File:France proposal regions (2014) map.svg | Manuel Valls's proposal A File:France proposal regions (2014) map2.svg| Manuel Valls's proposal B File:France proposal regions (2014) map3.svg| President François Hollande's proposal File:France assembly vote.svg|Regions as instituted by the National Assembly in 2014

Given below is a table of former regions and which new region they became part of.

List of administrative regions

Role

Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law. They levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They also have considerable budgets managed by a regional council (conseil régional) made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections.

A region's primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools. In March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the resulting costs, and that such measures would increase regional inequalities.

In addition, regions have considerable discretionary power over infrastructural spending, e.g., education, public transit, universities and research, and assistance to business owners. This has meant that the heads of wealthy regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions.

Proposals to give regions limited legislative autonomy have met with considerable resistance; others propose transferring certain powers from the departments to their respective regions, leaving the former with limited authority.

Regional control

Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986.

Overseas regions

Overseas region () is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. As integral parts of the French Republic, they are represented in the National Assembly, Senate and Economic and Social Council, elect a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and use the euro as their currency.

Although these territories have had these political powers since 1982, when France's decentralisation policy dictated that they be given elected regional councils along with other regional powers, the designation overseas regions dates only to the 2003 constitutional change; indeed, the new wording of the constitution aims to give no precedence to either appellation overseas department or overseas region, although the second is still virtually unused by French media.

The following have overseas region status:

• in the Indian Ocean (Africa):
  • Mayotte
  • Réunion
• in the Americas:
  • French Guiana in South America
  • Guadeloupe in the Antilles (Caribbean)
  • Martinique in the Antilles (Caribbean)

: ^ Saint Pierre and Miquelon (located just south of Newfoundland, Canada, in North America), once an overseas department, was demoted to a territorial collectivity in 1985.

France-Constituent-Lands.png Outre-mer en sans Terre Adelie.png

Explanatory notes

References

References

1. "Statistiques locales: France par région". [[Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques.
2. Jean-Marie Miossec (2009), ''Géohistoire de la régionalisation en France,'' Paris: Presses universitaires de France {{ISBN. 978-2-13-056665-6.
3. "Code officiel géographique au 1er janvier 2014: Liste des régions". INSEE.
4. New name as of 17 January 2015; formerly named {{lang. fr. Centre.
5. [http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2014/12/17/la-carte-a-13-regions-definitivement-adoptee_4542278_823448.html La carte à 13 régions définitivement adoptée], [[Le Monde]], 17 December 2014, accessed 2 January 2015
6. [http://www.sudouest.fr/2014/12/04/quel-nom-pour-la-nouvelle-region-vous-avez-choisi-1755244-6058.php Quel nom pour la nouvelle région ? Vous avez choisi...], [[Sud-Ouest (newspaper). Sud-Ouest]], 4 December 2014, accessed 2 January 2015
7. "Nouveau nom de la région : dernier jour de vote, Occitanie en tête".
8. (2015-01-17). "''Journal officiel'' of 17 January 2015".
9. (31 May 2016). "Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes : fini la consultation, Laurent Wauquiez a tranché".
10. (June 2025). "Région Bourgogne-Franche-Comté".
11. "La nouvelle nomenclature des codes régions". [[INSEE]].
12. [https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/6013844?sommaire=6011075 Populations légales des régions en vigueur au 1er janvier 2022]
13. "Population by sex, annual rate of population increase, surface area and density".
14. [https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/3291775?sommaire=2120838 Populations légales des communes de Mayotte en 2017]