Regulatory power, decentralization, local authorities, Prime Minister, constitutional law, administrative authorities, French Constitution, Article 21, Article 72
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Abstract
This document discusses the fragmentation of regulatory power in France, examining the distribution of regulatory authority among various administrative bodies and the limitations on their power.
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[...] However, this analysis deserves to be nuanced, since practice shows that this regulatory power remains largely subordinate to that of the Prime Minister. II. The subordination of the regulatory power to the central power Practice, as usual, deviates from the original will of the legislator, the regulatory power of the decentralized organs remains too little legitimate and is subordinate to a general regulatory power A. The lack of legitimacy of the decentralized organs The regulatory power of the decentralized organs suffers from a legitimacy issue due to its very nature. [...]
[...] Can we really speak of a fragmentation of regulatory power? Subject: Can we really speak of a fragmentation of regulatory power? Former President of the Republic François Mitterand declared in July 1981 that 'France had a need for a strong and centralized power to become; it has today a need for a decentralized power not to lose'. Today consecrated by the Constitution in its first article, decentralization has allowed the transfer of administrative competences from the State to distinct local entities from the latter. [...]
[...] Thus, power is defined to exist only in a certain social dimension in that it varies according to the circumstances requiring the presence of at least two individuals. The regulatory power is defined as the power held by executive and administrative authorities to take unilaterally executive acts containing general and impersonal provisions. For the first time in French constitutional history, a formally constitutional text consecrates the existence of the regulatory power, Article 21 provides: "LThe Prime Minister directs the action of the Government. He is responsible for National Defence. He ensures the execution of the laws. [...]
[...] In addition, the legislative authorization to exercise regulatory power can only relate to measures of limited scope in their field of application and in their content. In addition, the spirit of decentralization can lead the judge to admit that the law is sufficiently precise for local authorities to decide directly on its modalities of application. Thus, the regulatory power of decentralized bodies suffers from their lack of legitimacy, which subordinates their regulatory power to that of the Prime Minister. B. [...]
[...] However, this regulatory power had already been implicitly introduced in the Constitutional Council's decision of February relating to Corsica, suggesting that there is another form of regulatory power based on Article 72 Thus, it now falls to the decentralized bodies to develop the norm by freeing themselves from general norms in order to conduct the action in a more adapted manner to the particularities of their territory B. A local regulatory power The regulatory power being undoubtedly one of the conditions of the free administration of territorial collectivities, it is therefore evident that there is a fracture of the regulatory power. This experimentation of the State is based on the provisions of Article L. [...]
