Title VII · Communes, Sub-Regions And Regions · Public Register of the Republic of Fluid

166

The tiers

The Republic governs at four levels: commune, sub-region, region and centre.

1.The Republic is organised in four governing tiers: the commune, the sub-region, the region and the Republic.
2.The commune is the village or the city with its territory. Sub-regions comprise the communes within them. The two regions comprise the sub-regions within them, nine in the western region and eleven in the eastern.
3.Each tier governs itself through organs elected or constituted under this Title, holds the competences this Title assigns to it, and receives resources under Chapter 6.
4.The Republic is unitary under Article 1(2). In no case does a tier have sovereignty, a right of secession, a constitution of its own, or a legal order separate from that of the Republic.
5.The two regions hold identical competences, and in no case is a competence conferred upon one region alone.

167

General competence and subsidiarity

Communes may act on anything not expressly given to a higher level, and doubt favours the commune.

1.The commune holds general competence. It may act in any matter concerning the life of its territory and its inhabitants, except where this Constitution or an organic law assigns the matter exclusively to a higher tier.
2.The sub-region, the region and the Republic hold the competences enumerated in Articles 174, 176 and 177 alone. The residue belongs to the commune.
3.A higher tier acts only where the scale of the matter, the extent of its effects beyond one territory, or the equality this Constitution requires between territories places it beyond the reach of the tier below.
4.Doubt as to the tier competent in a matter is resolved in favour of the commune.
5.Assignment of a matter to a higher tier by organic law requires the reasons to be stated in the text, is reviewable under Article 189, and is revisable.

168

Equality between territories

Every resident gets the same standard of provision wherever they live.

1.Every resident holds the rights of Title III and the provision of Articles 62 and 107 to the same standard in every territory of the Republic.
2.Self-government produces no inequality in the minimum core, and Article 91(3) governs allocation.
3.A commune, sub-region or region may exceed the general standard from resources it has saved or generated under Article 182, and in no case may it fall below it.

169

Government of the commune

Communes are run by an assembly of residents, or by an elected council where that is impractical.

1.The commune is governed by the assembly of its residents where Article 141(1) applies, and by an elected communal council where Article 141(2) applies.
2.Where the commune is governed by assembly, the assembly exercises the powers this Title confers upon the communal council, and elects an executive board of no fewer than three and no more than nine residents, recallable at any time.
3.Every resident of the commune who has attained the age of sixteen years participates in the assembly, votes for the council, and stands for it, under Article 60.

170

The communal council

Communal councils are elected proportionally for four years, and are recallable.

1.Members of the communal council are elected for four years by open list, by proportional representation computed within the commune.
2.The council elects a chair from among its members, who convenes it, directs its sittings and signs its acts, and who in no case decides a matter alone or against the council.
3.The council executes through committees composed of its members and apportioned among the lists in proportion to their seats, and Article 148(3) and (4) apply.
4.Sittings are public, records and votes by name are published within forty-eight hours, and the agenda is published in advance.
5.Members are recallable by the residents on the conditions of Article 128, the figures applying to the commune.
6.Members hold the seat for no more than three consecutive terms, receive the provision of every resident under Article 126(1) and (2), and hold the mandate as contribution under Article 70(2).

171

Competences of the commune

Communes run housing, water, waste, local roads, schools, clinics, libraries and local ecology.

1.The commune administers its territory under Article 167(1), and in particular: local provision of Articles 62 and 107 within its territory; housing, its allocation and its maintenance under Chapter 8; water supply and sanitation within its boundaries; local roads, paths and public space; waste collection, reuse and recovery; nursery, primary and communal education establishments; primary healthcare posts and communal care services; libraries of tools and of books under Article 107(4); cultural, sporting and holiday facilities; communal enterprises under Article 86; local ecological monitoring under Article 25(1)(c); civil protection at the local level; and the convening of the assemblies of Article 93.
2.The commune adopts local rules within its competence, which bind within its territory, conform to this Constitution, the laws and the ecological budgets, and are published in the public register.
3.A local rule stricter than a national one in ecological protection is valid under Article 25(5). A local rule weaker than a national standard is void.
4.The commune adopts its spatial plan under Article 184.

172

Neighbourhoods

Neighbourhoods hold assemblies which can put anything on the council's agenda.

1.A commune divides its territory into neighbourhoods, each holding an assembly of its residents under Article 93.
2.Neighbourhood assemblies decide the matters the communal council devolves to them, dispose of the share of communal resources the council assigns, and hold the right to place any matter on the agenda of the council.
3.In no case may a communal council refuse to consider a matter transmitted by a neighbourhood assembly, and its answer is reasoned and public.

173

The sub-region and its council

Sub-regional councils are made of delegates from the communes, mandated and recallable.

1.The sub-region is the intermediate tier between the commune and the region, and is the electoral district of Article 121.
2.The sub-regional council is composed of delegates elected by the communal councils and assemblies of the sub-region, apportioned among the communes in proportion to their resident population, with each commune holding no fewer than one delegate.
3.Delegates hold mandates from the bodies that elected them, are recallable by those bodies at any time, and serve for four years.
4.The council elects a chair and executes through committees composed under Article 170(3), and Article 170(4) governs its publicity.

174

Competences of the sub-region

Sub-regions run watersheds, school and clinic networks, local transport, water works and rescue.

1.The sub-region holds the following competences alone: management of watersheds lying within it, under Article 28(2); the network of schools above the communal establishments; the network of clinics, hospitals of first reference and care institutions; local and inter-communal transport; roads connecting communes; supply of water and treatment of waste water where the works serve several communes; recovery and treatment of materials at a scale beyond one commune; fire and rescue services; the deconcentrated offices of the administration within its territory; and coordination of the spatial plans of its communes.
2.The sub-region exercises no competence of a commune, and in no case does it review, approve or annul an act of a commune, Article 189 governing conflicts.
3.Where a watershed crosses a sub-regional boundary, the councils concerned constitute a joint body under Article 186, and failing agreement the region acts under Article 176(1).

175

The region and its council

Regional councils are made of delegates from the sub-regions.

1.Each region has a council composed of delegates elected by the sub-regional councils, apportioned in proportion to resident population, with each sub-region holding no fewer than two delegates.
2.Article 173(3) and (4) apply to the regional council and its delegates.

176

Competences of the region

Regions run cross-boundary infrastructure, hospitals, universities, protected areas and regional balance.

1.The region holds the following competences alone: infrastructure serving more than one sub-region, including trunk roads, railways, ports and the regional works of the energy, water and communication systems; watersheds crossing sub-regional boundaries; regional hospitals and specialised care; institutions of higher education and research within its territory; regional protected areas and habitat connectivity under Article 31(1); regional civil protection; the regional spatial plan; and the balance of provision among its sub-regions.
2.The region distributes among its sub-regions the resources apportioned to it under Article 180(4), and publishes the distribution with its reasons.
3.The region exercises no competence of a commune or of a sub-region.

177

Competences of the Republic

The centre keeps the Constitution, rights, ecology, criminal law, courts, treaties and national systems.

1.The Republic holds the following competences alone: this Constitution and its amendment; the rights of Title III and their protection; the ecological budgets of Title II; criminal law and criminal procedure; the organisation of the courts and the judiciary; civil, family, labour and cooperative law; the electoral system and the register of residence; citizenship and asylum; external relations, treaties and defence; the national systems of energy, communication, rail and water; the knowledge commons; the national plan and its organs; the currency question under Article 7(5) and the residual unit of account; the offices of Title IX; the standards of Article 178; and any matter concerning both regions.
2.The Republic acts in a matter concerning both regions where uniform treatment is required for the movement of persons, goods, vehicles and information across the territory, for the safety of persons, or for the equality of provision.
3.In no case does the Republic assume a competence of a lower tier outside Article 157(2) and Article 190.

178

Standards of general application

The centre sets the standards that must be identical everywhere, including vehicle dimensions and loads.

1.The Republic fixes by law or by regulation of the competent executive committee the technical standards that must hold identically throughout the territory, including: dimensions, masses and loads of vehicles and their combinations, and the conditions of exceptional loads; construction, safety and accessibility of buildings and works; electrical, gas and network interconnection; sanitary and food standards; measurement, units and calibration; the specifications of durability, repair and recovery under Articles 33 and 110; the formats, protocols and interfaces of Article 109(6); and the signage and rules of the public way.
2.Standards are published in full, without charge, in open form, and are implementable and verifiable by any person.
3.A commune, sub-region or region may adopt a stricter standard within its territory where the matter concerns ecological protection, safety of persons, or accessibility, and where the stricter standard obstructs no movement lawfully undertaken from another territory.
4.Where the application of a standard to a particular case is disputed, the tier applying it decides in the first instance, gives written reasons, and the decision is reviewable under Article 161(4).

179

Principle of direct allocation

There is no tax, and territories receive resources straight from the plan.

1.There is no tax. Communes, sub-regions and regions receive their resources directly from the plan, in the physical units of Article 7(2).
2.Allocation reaches each commune directly, and in no case does it pass through the discretion of a higher tier, except for the regional distribution of Article 176(2), which follows the published formula alone.
3.In no case may a resource allocation be withheld, reduced, delayed or conditioned as a means of influencing the political conduct of a territory, and an act doing so is void and engages Article 43(4).

180

The formula

The formula is public and computed openly, and named people must justify any departure from it.

1.Organic law fixes a public formula that determines the allocation of each commune, sub-region and region, computed upon: resident population and its composition by age and condition; the needs registered under Article 63 within the territory; the tasks assigned by Articles 171, 174 and 176; distance, dispersion of settlement and geography; the condition of existing works and their maintenance; ecological burdens borne and restoration owed; and the equalisation of Article 181.
2.The Planning Secretariat computes the allocations, publishes the formula, the code, the data and the result for every territory, and flags every departure from the computed figure.
3.Identified persons of the competent economic council decide the allocation, state reasons for any departure from the computed figure, and Articles 51(5) and 90(3) govern. In no case does a computation decide an allocation.
4.Allocations are published before the opening of each planning period, and a territory may object under Article 97(1)(c) and challenge under Article 43.

181

Equalisation

Poorer or harder territories get extra as of right, without asking anyone's permission.

1.Territories whose geography, settlement pattern, inherited works or ecological burden place the general standard of provision beyond the ordinary allocation receive an additional allocation sufficient to reach it.
2.Equalisation is computed by the formula, is published, and is owed as of right.
3.In no case does equalisation depend upon the assent of another territory or upon a negotiation between territories.

182

Local surplus and local initiative

A territory that saves resources keeps them, and can never be penalised for saving.

1.A territory that meets its assigned tasks below its allocation retains the surplus for the following period, applies it within its competences, and in no case suffers a reduction of its allocation by reason of the saving.
2.A territory may undertake works and provision beyond the general standard from a surplus so retained, from the voluntary contribution of its residents under Article 70, and from cooperation under Article 186.
3.Surplus retained is subject to the ecological budgets in every case, and in no case may it be applied to exceed a ceiling.
4.In no case may a territory borrow, pledge an asset, hold a reserve of the residual unit of account, or accept resources from a foreign economic entity.

183

Relation of the economic councils to the elected councils

Economic councils answer to the elected council of their own level.

1.The communal economic council answers to the communal council, the sub-regional economic council to the sub-regional council, and the regional economic council to the regional council.
2.Each elected council receives the reports of its economic council, questions its delegates, requires documents, examines its account of each planning period, and may direct it to reconsider a decision, stating reasons publicly.
3.An elected council may recall the delegates it has itself designated to the economic council, and in no case may it recall a delegate designated by a workplace assembly, a user assembly, a branch federation or the ecological interest.
4.Direction under paragraph 2 conforms to this Constitution, to the ecological budgets and to the priority of Article 91(2). In no case may an elected council direct an economic council to breach a budget, to depart from the order of Article 91(2), or to prefer a person or a group.
5.A sub-regional economic council is constituted in each sub-region, composed of delegates of the communal economic councils, of the branch federations operating in the sub-region, of the user assemblies of sub-regional services, and of ecological interest. It reconciles what the communal economic councils have failed to reconcile among themselves, and it enters the cycle of Article 97(1)(c) between the communal and the regional stages.
6.Article 94(3) applies to the delegates of every economic council under this Article.

184

Spatial planning

Communes adopt spatial plans after public inquiry, and habitat connectivity is a condition of validity.

1.Each commune adopts a spatial plan governing the use of land within its territory, in conformity with the ecological budgets, the sub-regional coordination of Article 174(1) and the regional plan of Article 176(1).
2.Spatial plans are adopted after public inquiry, hearing of the neighbourhood assemblies, and publication of the objections received with the answer given to each.
3.Habitat connectivity is a condition of validity under Article 31(1), and a plan breaching it is void under Article 26(2).
4.Persons and communities affected by a proposed installation, extraction or infrastructure are heard under Article 76(3), and their agreement is sought before the plan is adopted. Where agreement fails and the work serves a need that no alternative site can meet, the decision states the reasons, records the objections, and fixes the compensation of the burdens borne under Article 32(5).

185

Allocation and reallocation of housing

If a household shrinks, exchange is offered for three years before reallocation, with protections.

1.The commune allocates the dwellings within its territory according to registered need under Articles 63 and 65(2), by published rules and a public register of applications.
2.Where a household falls below the size for which its dwelling was allocated, the commune records the change and offers an exchange for a dwelling corresponding to the household, situated within the same commune and, so far as practicable, within the same neighbourhood.
3.The offer is made no earlier than twelve months after the change. Where it is declined, the commune renews it at intervals of no less than six months, offering a different dwelling on each occasion.
4.Reallocation becomes obligatory thirty-six months after the change, and only upon the offer of a dwelling that meets the minimum core, corresponds to the household, lies within the same commune, and preserves access to work, care, education and transport under Article 65(1).
5.The commune bears the whole cost of removal, adaptation and reconnection, and the household suffers no interruption of provision.
6.Reallocation is decided by reasoned decision, is appealable with suspensive effect under Article 43, and takes effect only when the decision is final.
7.In no case does reallocation proceed where the household includes a person whose health, disability, age, care of another person or attachment to a place of long residence makes removal harmful. Organic law defines these grounds, and the commune states its finding upon each of them in the decision.
8.In no case does eviction into homelessness follow from this Article, and Article 65(3) governs.
9.The dwelling released returns to allocation under paragraph 1.

186

Cooperation and joint bodies

Territories may contract and form joint bodies, but never transfer a competence permanently.

1.Communes, sub-regions and regions may contract with one another for the joint exercise of their competences, for shared works and for mutual assistance.
2.They may constitute joint bodies, governed by delegates of the participating territories, publishing their acts and accounts, and holding no competence beyond the one conferred.
3.A joint body dissolves upon the withdrawal of the participants, and its assets return to them in the proportions of their contribution.
4.In no case does cooperation transfer a competence permanently, create a tier of government, or bind a territory that has not consented.

187

Boundaries, merger and division

Boundaries change only with the agreement of the residents affected, by referendum.

1.Boundaries of communes are altered, communes merged and communes divided only with the agreement of the residents of each territory affected, expressed by referendum under Article 140.
2.Boundaries of sub-regions and regions are altered by organic law, and only with the agreement of the residents of each territory affected, expressed by referendum.
3.A referendum under this Article is held upon the initiative of a communal council, of ten per cent of the residents of an affected territory, or of the Assembly.
4.Alteration of an electoral district follows Article 121(5), and in no case does an alteration under this Article take effect for an election already convened.
5.In no case may a boundary be altered to affect the outcome of an election, the composition of a council or the allocation of resources, and Article 121(5) governs the criteria.

188

Communities, languages and heritage

Communities may use their language with any authority, and govern their own heritage.

1.Communities present in a territory hold the right to use their language in dealings with every tier of government, under Article 16(1).
2.Where a community forms a significant part of the population of a commune, the commune conducts its assemblies, publishes its acts and provides instruction in that language, on the conditions fixed by organic law, and Article 67(6) governs.
3.Communities govern the heritage that belongs to them under Article 73(4), and communes protect the material heritage within their territory.
4.Long-standing rules by which a community uses and maintains a commons resource are recognised under Article 83(4).

189

Conflicts of competence

The Constitutional Court settles disputes over which level is competent.

1.A conflict between tiers concerning competence is decided by the Constitutional Court at the instance of any territory concerned, of the Coordinating Bureau, or of any person affected by the act in dispute.
2.The Court states the boundary in terms applicable to similar cases, and Article 167(4) governs doubt.
3.Pending decision, the act in dispute continues in effect, except where the Court suspends it upon a showing of irreparable harm.
4.An act of a tier exceeding its competence is void to the extent of the excess.

190

Default and the commissioner

A defaulting territory keeps its council, and a court appoints a commissioner for named tasks only.

1.Where a commune, sub-region or region persistently fails to furnish the minimum core within its territory, breaches an ecological budget, refuses to execute a final judgment, or leaves its offices unfilled, any resident, the competent economic council, a higher tier, the Ecological Budget Authority or the offices of Title IX may apply to the competent court.
2.The court hears the territory, establishes the default, and orders performance on a fixed timetable.
3.Where the order is not executed, the court appoints a commissioner, naming the specific tasks the commissioner performs, the resources placed at their disposal, and the date on which the appointment ends.
4.The elected council remains in office throughout, continues to exercise every competence outside the tasks named, sits, deliberates and publishes as before, and in no case is it suspended, dissolved or displaced.
5.The commissioner performs the named tasks alone, reports publicly at monthly intervals to the council and to the court, and answers to the court.
6.An appointment runs for twelve months at the most, is renewed once only, upon a fresh finding of continuing default, and lapses upon the removal of the default.
7.The commissioner is independent of the executive committees, is selected from a public roster established by organic law, and in no case is a member of the Assembly, of an executive committee or of a council of the territory concerned.
8.The commissioner exercises no power over the elected council, over elections in the territory, over the local rules in force, or over any matter outside the tasks named.
9.Where the default arises from an allocation insufficient to the tasks assigned, the court so finds, refers the matter under Article 99, and appoints no commissioner.
10.The decision appointing a commissioner is appealable, and the appeal is heard within thirty days.

191

Protection of self-government

No territory may be abolished, suspended, or stripped of its elected bodies.

1.Communes, sub-regions and regions may bring an action before the Constitutional Court against any act infringing their competences, their resources or their organs.
2.In no case may a tier of government be abolished, suspended or deprived of its elected organs by an act of the Assembly, of an executive committee or of a higher tier.
3.In no case may an executive committee issue an instruction to a communal, sub-regional or regional council, and Article 157(2) governs the assumption of a task.
4.Residents of a territory may challenge under Article 43 any act depriving them of the self-government this Title guarantees.

Communes, Sub-Regions And Regions

Chapter 1 · Principles of Territorial Organisation