French General Code of Local Authorities
In forceIn each department, a commission is set up under the State representative, made up of:
1° Representatives of the mayors of communes with a population not exceeding 20,000 in metropolitan departments and 35,000 in overseas departments;
2° Representatives of the presidents of public establishments for inter-communal cooperation with their own tax status whose population does not exceed 60,000 in the departments of mainland France and 150,000 in the overseas departments and the Department of Mayotte;
3° All the deputies and senators elected in the department when it has fewer than five members of parliament. With effect from 1 January 2018, where the département has five or more members of parliament, two deputies and two senators are appointed, respectively, by the National Assembly and the Senate.
For the categories mentioned in 1° and 2°, the members of the commission are appointed by the association of mayors of the département.
If, in the department, there is no association of mayors or if there are several, the members of the commission are elected by proportional representation with the highest remainder by two colleges comprising respectively the mayors or presidents of public establishments for inter-communal cooperation belonging to each of the two categories mentioned in 1° and 2°.
The representatives of the presidents of the public establishments of inter-municipal cooperation with their own tax status referred to in 2° must hold the majority of seats within the categories referred to in 1° and 2°.
At each of its meetings, the commission appoints a bureau for the session. The secretariat of the commission is provided by the services of the State representative in the department. Five clear days before any meeting, the representative of the State in the département sends the members of the commission a summary explanatory note on the matters on the agenda. The term of office of the members of the commission referred to in 1° and 2° above expires with each general renewal of the municipal councils. The terms of office of deputies and senators expire, respectively, at each general renewal of the National Assembly and at each partial renewal of the Senate.
The commission sets each year the categories of priority operations and, within limits set by decree in the Conseil d'Etat, the minimum and maximum subsidy rates applicable to each of them.
The representative of the State in the département decides each year, according to the categories and within the limits set by the committee, on the list of operations to be subsidised and the amount of the State subsidy allocated to them. It informs the committee of the list of projects it has selected. The committee is asked to give its opinion on projects for which the grant under the rural amenities allowance is for an amount in excess of €100,000.
The committee is not set up in the territorial collectivity of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.
The committee is made up of representatives of the local authorities and the regional authorities.
