“We must re-establish the link between the national and the local”, argues MP Eric Woerth

The non-cumulation of mandates “is a fundamental error”, believes the Renaissance MP for Oise, author of a report on decentralization.

“We must re-establish the link between the national and the local”, pleaded Thursday May 30 on franceinfo Eric Woerth, Renaissance MP for Oise, former Minister of Budget and Public Accounts, author of a report on decentralization, commissioned last fall by Emmanuel Macron. Eric Woerth’s report recommends the return of the combination of deputy-mayor and senator-mayor, abolished in 2017.

Non-cumulative mandates “is a fundamental error”, believes the MP. However, he recalls that “Cumulations are possible”. “You can be a deputy and regional councilor of Île-de-France, but you cannot be a deputy and deputy mayor of a modest town of 500 inhabitants” but “It is, to say the least, preposterous and intellectually incomprehensible.” Eric Woerth believes that “national politicians, who are parliamentarians, must be able to exercise the symbolic function which is the function of mayor, because that is where things happen, where meetings take place, where opinion is created. And it There is no reason to prevent this.”

The report, however, keeps “the impossibility of combining many things”by integrating in particular “the presidency of intermunicipalities within the framework of accounting for the number of mandates which can be exercised”, specifies Eric Woerth. But the former minister claims that “to be able to be a parliamentarian and mayor” seems to him “to be an essential element in a democracy which functions both vertically, that is to say the central State, but also horizontally, that is to say local authorities and elected officials “.

The report on decentralization also proposes reducing “by 20% the number of municipal councilors”i.e. a decrease “of the order of 100 000″ at the national level, for “better identify them, better pay them and better protect them”. “What is very important is that mayors can be surrounded by extremely active teams”justifies Eric Woerth. “We are proposing to reduce the number of municipal councilors, but we are keeping the same number of deputies, because we have to be at the heart of the action.” For the member for Oise, “the mayor needs to be surrounded by people who are very active in his territory to give his city a vision.” “The mayors tell us, ‘we can’t find the necessary number’” of advisors, adds Eric Woerth to justify the measure. It is therefore a question of “reduce the number of elected officials” For “move towards greater efficiency and proximity.