Regions of France

1982–2015

The term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation (2 March 1982), which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for regional representatives took place on 16 March 1986.^[2]

Between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France. Before 2011, there were four overseas regions (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion); in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth.

Regions of France between 2011 and 2015

Nord-Pas de Calais Picardy Upper Normandy Île-de- France Champagne- Ardenne Lorraine Alsace Franche- Comté Burgundy Centre- Val de Loire Pays de la Loire Brittany Lower Normandy Poitou- Charentes Limousin Auvergne Rhône- Alpes Aquitaine Midi-Pyrénées Languedoc- Roussillon Provence- Alpes- Côte d'Azur Corsica French Guiana Guadeloupe Martinique Mayotte Réunion Belgium Luxembourg Germany Switzerland Italy United Kingdom Andorra Brazil Suriname Spain Monaco Channel Bay of Biscay Ligurian Sea Mediterranean Sea

Reform and mergers of regions

In 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 effective 1 January 2016.^[5]

The law gave interim names for most of the new regions by combining the names of the former regions, e.g. the region composed of Aquitaine, Poitou-Charentes and Limousin was temporarily called Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes. However, the combined region of Upper and Lower Normandy was simply called "Normandy" (Normandie). Permanent names were proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016 and new names confirmed by the Conseil d'État by 30 September 2016.^[6][7] The legislation defining the new regions also allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to "Centre-Val de Loire" with effect from January 2015.^[8]Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names.^[9][10]

• Overview of merger proposals for the metropolitan territory
• 
  Édouard Balladur's proposal
• 
  Manuel Valls's proposal A
• 
  Manuel Valls's proposal B
• 
  President François Hollande's proposal
• 
  Regions as instituted by the National Assembly in 2014

Given below is a table of former regions and which new region they became part of.

Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law. They levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing^{[clarification needed]} part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They also have considerable budgets managed by a regional council (conseil régional) made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections.

A region's primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools. In March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the resulting costs, and that such measures would increase regional inequalities.

In addition, regions have considerable discretionary power over infrastructural spending, e.g., education, public transit, universities and research, and assistance to business owners. This has meant that the heads of wealthy regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions.

Proposals to give regions limited legislative autonomy have met with considerable resistance; others propose transferring certain powers from the departments to their respective regions, leaving the former with limited authority.

Regional control

Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986.

Elections	Presidencies			Map
	Left	Right	Other
1986	5	21	–
1992	4	21	1
1998	10	15	1
2004	23	2	1
2010	23	3	–
2015	7	8	2
2021	6	8	4

Overseas region (French: Région d'outre-mer) is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. As integral parts of the French Republic, they are represented in the National Assembly, Senate and Economic and Social Council, elect a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and use the euro as their currency.

Although these territories have had these political powers since 1982, when France's decentralisation policy dictated that they be given elected regional councils along with other regional powers, the designation overseas regions dates only to the 2003 constitutional change; indeed, the new wording of the constitution aims to give no precedence to either appellation overseas department or overseas region, although the second is still virtually unused by French media.

The following have overseas region status:

• in the Indian Ocean (Africa):
  • Mayotte
  • Réunion

• in the Americas:
  • French Guiana in South America
  • Guadeloupe in the Antilles (Caribbean)
  • Martinique in the Antilles (Caribbean)

^ Saint Pierre and Miquelon (located just south of Newfoundland, Canada, in North America), once an overseas department, was demoted to a territorial collectivity in 1985.

• List of current presidents of the regional councils of France and the Corsican Assembly
• Ranked list of French regions
• Administrative divisions of France
• List of French regions and overseas collectivities by GDP
• List of French regions by Human Development Index
• List of regions of France by population
• Flags of the regions of France
• ISO 3166-2:FR

General:

• Decentralisation in France
• Budget of France
• Regional councils of France
• Administrative divisions of France

Overseas

• Overseas France
  • Clipperton Island
  • Overseas collectivity
    • Overseas country (Outre-mer)
  • Overseas department and region
  • Overseas territory
  • Sui generis collectivity

• Regions of France at Curlie
• Guide to the regions of France
• Local websites by region
• Will 2010 regional elections lead to political shake-up? Radio France Internationale in English

Overseas regions

• Ministère de l'Outre-Mer
• some explanations about the past and current developments of DOMs and TOMs (in French)