Reform is the key of the quinquennium Holland, the merger of regions in fourteen large sets date now more than three years. The law of 16 January 2015 had increased their number from 22 to 12 in metropolitan france (Corsica is a community of special status), seven being derived from the grouping of two or three old regions.

now is The time to the first assessment. And the one that shipped on Tuesday, by the Court of accounts is not glorious. This territorial reform, which should help to render the presence of the State more efficient in the territories, would, for the moment, totally his target. The study of the impact of the law does not quantify the efficiency gains expected, but the government -through the voice of the secretary of State for territorial Reform of the epoch, André Vallini - was advanced on potential savings of the order of 10 billion euros in the medium term.

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We are a long way away. "The efficiency gains targeted by these reforms are still limited because of the continuation, in the majority of cases, methods for managing pre-existing, summarize the high magistrates of the rue Cambon in their annual report on local public finance. On the contrary, additional costs are identified, particularly in terms of remuneration administrative staff and allowances of elected officials."

How do you explain this failure? First, for reasons of political balance obvious, the new sets are efforts everywhere to maintain "sites located in the capitals of the former regions". Only the New Aquitaine would have assumed a logic of rationalization by bringing in Bordeaux most of its management teams.

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Then, staff costs have increased sharply. "Groupings of regions have led to additional expenditures related to the compensation of personnel or to the compensation of elected officials, including the schemes have been aligned on the provisions most favorable among those of the former regions", note as well the Court. "Overall, in the absence of a proactive policy of population reduction, in 2021, annual expenditures on additional system compensatory regions merged will represent between 49,35 million euros and 53,35 million euros compared to the situation in 2016", warn the judges.