TITLE I: PUBLIC ESTABLISHMENTS FOR INTERCOMMUNAL COOPERATION

I. - In each department, based on an assessment of the coherence of the perimeters and an inventory of the distribution of the competences of the existing groupings and their exercise, a departmental inter-municipal cooperation scheme is drawn up, providing for full coverage of the territory by public inter-municipal cooperation establishments with their own tax status and the elimination of enclaves and territorial discontinuities.

II. - This plan also sets out the procedures for rationalising the perimeters of existing public establishments for intercommunal cooperation and mixed syndicates.

It may propose the creation, transformation or merger of public establishments for intercommunal cooperation with their own tax status, as well as changes to their boundaries.

It may also propose the abolition, transformation, as well as the merger of syndicates of communes or mixed syndicates.

These proposals are shown on a map attached to the plan, which includes in particular the boundaries of public establishments for inter-communal cooperation, mixed syndicates, territorial coherence schemes and regional nature parks.

III. - The plan takes into account the following guidelines:

1° The constitution of public establishments of inter-municipal cooperation with their own tax status grouping together at least 15,000 inhabitants; however, this threshold is adapted, without being able to be less than 5,000 inhabitants for public establishments of inter-municipal cooperation with their own tax status as well as for projects for public establishments of inter-municipal cooperation with their own tax status :

a) Whose demographic density is less than half the national density, within a department whose demographic density is less than the national density; the applicable demographic threshold is then determined by weighting the number of 15,000 inhabitants by the ratio between the demographic density of the department to which the majority of the communes in the perimeter belong and the national density ;

b) Whose population density is less than 30% of the national density;

c) Comprising at least half of the communes located in a mountain area delimited pursuant to article 3 de la loi n° 85-30 du 9 janvier 1985 relative au développement et à la protection de la montagne ou regroupant toutes les communes composant un territoire insulaire;

d) Or incluant la totalité d'un établissement public de coopération intercommunale à fiscalité propre de plus de 12 000 habitants issu d'une fusion intervenue entre le 1er janvier 2012 et la date de publication de la loi n° 2015-991 du 7 août 2015 portant nouvelle organisation territoriale de la République;

For the application of this 1°, the population to be taken into account is the municipal population authenticated by the most recent decree published pursuant to the article 156 de la loi n° 2002-276 du 27 février 2002 relative à la démocratie de proximité, la densité nationale est déterminée en divisant la somme des populations municipales des départements de métropole et d'outre-mer et des collectivités territoriales exerçant les compétences départementales par la somme des superficies de ces mêmes départements et collectivités territoriales, and the demographic density of a department, a public inter-municipal cooperation establishment with its own tax system or a proposed perimeter of a public inter-municipal cooperation establishment with its own tax system is determined by dividing the sum of the authenticated municipal populations of the communes that make it up by the sum of the surface areas of these communes.

2° The spatial coherence of public establishments of inter-municipal cooperation with their own tax status with regard in particular to the perimeter of urban units as defined by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, catchment areas and territorial coherence schemes;

3° Increased financial solidarity and territorial solidarity;

4° A reduction in the number of syndicates of communes and mixed syndicates, in particular by eliminating duplication between public establishments of inter-municipal cooperation or between these and mixed syndicates ;

5° The transfer of competences exercised by syndicates of communes or mixed syndicates to a public inter-municipal cooperation establishment with its own tax status or to another syndicate exercising the same competences in accordance with the objectives of rationalising the perimeters of existing groupings and strengthening territorial solidarity...;

6° The rationalisation of structures with responsibility for spatial planning, environmental protection and compliance with the principles of sustainable development;

7° The deepening of cooperation within the perimeters of metropolitan clusters and territorial and rural balance clusters formed pursuant to articles L. 5741-1 and L. 5741-4;

8° Deliberations creating new communes.

IV. - A draft scheme is drawn up by the State representative in the department. It is presented to the departmental commission for inter-communal cooperation.

It is sent for an opinion to the municipal councils of the communes and to the deliberative bodies of the public establishments for inter-communal cooperation and mixed syndicates affected by the proposed changes to the existing situation with regard to inter-communal cooperation. They must give their opinion within two months of notification. If no decision is taken within this period, it is deemed to be favourable.

When a proposal concerns communes or public establishments for inter-communal cooperation or mixed syndicates belonging to different départements, the State representative in the département refers the matter for an opinion to the State representative in the other département(s) concerned, who gives an opinion within two months after consulting the departmental commission for inter-communal cooperation. In the absence of an opinion within this timeframe, the opinion is deemed to be favourable.

The draft outline plan, together with all the opinions mentioned in the previous two paragraphs, are then sent for an opinion to the departmental commission for inter-communal cooperation, which has a period of three months from this date to reach a decision. If no decision is taken within this period, it is deemed to be favourable. Proposals to amend the draft outline plan in accordance with I to III adopted by the departmental commission for inter-communal cooperation by a two-thirds majority of its members are incorporated into the draft outline plan.

The outline plan is adopted by decision of the State representative in the department and is published in at least one local publication distributed in the department.

The plan thus drawn up may be revised, in accordance with the same procedure.

IVa.-The departmental commission for inter-communal cooperation may, if half of its members so request, refer a request for revision of the outline plan to the State representative. It is convened at the request of 20% of its members.

V. - In the territory of the new municipalities resulting from the merger of all the municipalities that are members of one or more public establishments for inter-municipal cooperation with their own tax status, as well as in the maritime islands made up of a single municipality, the departmental schemes for inter-municipal cooperation are not obliged to provide for full coverage of the territory by public establishments for inter-municipal cooperation with their own tax status.

VI. - By way of derogation from the principle of continuity of the territory and on condition of compliance with 2° of III, a commune enclosed in a department other than the one to which it is administratively attached may belong to a public establishment of inter-municipal cooperation with its own tax status, the head office of which is fixed in the department to which it is attached.

VII. - In the départements of Essonne, Seine-et-Marne, Val-d'Oise and Yvelines, public establishments of inter-municipal cooperation with their own tax status whose registered office is located in the urban unit of Paris, as defined by the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, group together several communes in a single block and without an enclave forming a whole of at least 200,000 inhabitants. However, this population threshold may be waived by the representative of the State in the department to take account of the characteristics of certain areas, taking into account the particularities of the physical geography, the number of member communes, the population density or the surface area of the public establishments for intercommunal cooperation with their own tax status concerned.