Paris (AFP)

The government multiplies the signals sent to the mayors of the small communes, both by the need to find relays on the ground with the crisis of the "yellow vests", and in the perspective of the next municipal elections.

Gard Thursday noon on the Belgian border Friday, Edouard Philippe swallow a few hundred kilometers to witness special attention to two associations of elected officials: that of small towns (APVF), meeting in Congress in Uzès, then that of rural mayors (AMRF), gathered at Eppe-Sauvage in the North.

To these mayors, the Prime Minister will book expected announcements, a sign that the executive is still seeking to improve its relationship with local elected officials after a stormy five-year start.

"The government probably had the feeling at one time that small towns was a problem, and the elected mourners", rewinds the Socialist MP Christophe Bouillon, head of the APVF.

"There is a real change of foot, which I believe sincerely, which is to consider that there are solutions in small towns and to see elected officials as facilitators", he adds, while noting that "The movement of yellow vests" had also highlighted the feeling of neglect and "territorial and social inequalities" in small towns and their "26 million inhabitants".

"I believe, and surely the crisis of yellow vests has strengthened, we must also look at small towns, those that are central in rural areas, where they are essential to irrigate social life with a minimum services, businesses, "confirms the Minister of Territorial Cohesion Jacqueline Gourault.

In recent times, the government has therefore started draft laws - "commitment and closeness" on the status of the mayor for this autumn, "decentralization and deconcentration" for the first half of 2020 - and validated, for example, the deployment of 2,000 public service houses by 2022.

At six months of municipal, and while the Republic in motion seeks a local establishment, the executive has chosen to dig the furrow. Emmanuel Macron set the tone during the big debate by chaining the meetings with the mayors, visiting the village of President of AMRF Vanik Berberian in February.

- "Construction bonus" -

Before the APVF, Mr. Philippe should present revitalization measures for the boroughs. Before declining the next day "the rural agenda" of the government will resume some recommendations of a report in July.

Filigree, also draws the tactics of the government to rely on so-called "strata" associations (such as the APVF, the AMRF etc) rather than the three largest: the Association of Mayors of France (AMF) ), departments (ADF) and regions (ARF) which, according to a ministerial source, "refused to work with the government and did not respond to any of the perches" by political game.

Conversely, at the APVF, "we refused at the outset to enter the box + complacent + or + opponent +," says Mr. Bouillon, which sees rather "+ proposing +".

"We want to be constructive but we also need a bonus to the construction," he added, estimating that "the ball is in the government camp".

Several issues of concern still weigh, starting with the compensation of the housing tax, collected by the municipalities before the government eliminates it. On this point, which will be clarified next week, the APVF claims including "simulations" to have a common fiscal vision by municipality and a "revocation clause in five years," said Mr. Bouillon.

Regretting also that "the act 3 of the decentralization" does not arrive until after the municipal elections of March 2020, Mr. Bouillon also points to the "very strong expectations on the question of autonomy and freedom" left to the communes.

The executive has indeed enshrined a "right to differentiation" in its constitutional revision, but the project is stalled, notably because of disagreements with the Senate. An obstacle that the government hopes to circumvent based on a recent study of the State Council "which shows that under constant constitutional law could be relaxed experimentation to proceed from now on to differentiation" between communities, according to Ms. Gourault.

© 2019 AFP