Dix ans de décentralisation française : éléments de bilan

[eng] Ten years after the decentralization laws were adopted by the French Parliament, the once-and-for-all effects of the changes introduced have had time to work themselves out and the observed evolutions can safely be assumed to reflect the permanent functioning of the French system of local goverments in their new institutional environment. The present paper reviews some of the major consequences of the reforms, mostly on local public finance. It stresses the potential dangers of a system in which, due to the disproportionate share of some taxes and to the important role of central government in financing, locally elected authorities may well not be «accountable» enough. In addition, the equalization properties of existing inter-governmental grants seem much too limited compared to the tendencies, inherent in the current system of local finance, to strong polarization of economic development and to geographic segregation of population according to income levels.