Borne gives instructions to prefects for territorializing

2023-09-29 12:23:00

This was the big promise of Emmanuel Macron, candidate for re-election. At a meeting in Marseille, the President of the Republic announced that he would appoint a Prime Minister responsible for ecological planning, as well as a minister “responsible for territorial ecological planning”. In a “massive decentralization agenda”, the latter would have a road map of “change our means of getting around on a daily basis”, “reinvest in river and rail freight”, “accelerate the renovation of housing” or “act for the quality of water, air and food”.

A promise kept from October 2022 by the Prime Minister. During the presentation of the government “climate and biodiversity” strategy, Elisabeth Borne praised the “territories” as having “most of the decisive skills for the ecological transition, such as mobility, restoration of biodiversity, water and waste management”.

Local elected officials « know perfectly well the environmental challenges they face, and it is by associating them that we will be able to act fully and everywhere, in cities as well as in rural areas, in France and in the Overseas Territories, which can be the showcases of the ecological transition”, she added.

A circular on the implementation of territorialization

An ambition confirmed by the tenant of Matignon the day following the Ecological Planning Council organized at the Elysée. Speaking at the conclusion of the 19th Congress of Regions on September 28, Elisabeth Borne announced the holding of “COP [conférences des parties] territorial”, co-hosted by the presidents of regional councils and regional prefects. “Together, we will decide on the form, sequences, method and modalities of debate, while respecting regional coherence and the skills of each community. These COPs must allow us to raise collective awareness of the steps to take to succeed in the ecological transition at all levels” she told them.

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According to our information, the Prime Minister has just sent a circular to regional prefects and department prefects on the implementation of the territorialization of ecological planning. In this document that The Tribune was able to consult, it is regarding the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the preservation and restoration of biodiversity, the sustainable management of resources and adaptation to climate change.

“Planning will only succeed if it closely involves territories and all levels of community,” says Elisabeth Borne to state representatives on the ground.

COPs in four stages

To do this, the regional prefects will receive from the general secretariat for ecological planning – which depends on Matignon – a dashboard specifying, sector by sector, the panorama of action levers and objectives set out, region by sector. region.

“I made the choice not to fix first binding objectives for each stratum”, more “we must put in place a system of variation […] which guarantees us in the followingmath the effective achievement of objectives at the national level”, adds the Prime Minister.

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The COPs must include four stages: establishing a shared diagnosis of the territory, leading a debate, sharing at the scale of sub-regional territories and establishing the regional roadmap to 2030. They must associate, a minima, all local executives: regional council, departmental council, intermunicipalities, departmental associations of mayors.

These party conferences will be co-hosted by regional prefects and regional presidents, but it is not prohibited to organize COPs at departmental level or to integrate actors from the economic world as well as representatives of civil society. “You will also make sure to invite the territory’s parliamentarians,” underlines Elisabeth Borne.

It remains to translate local objectives into concrete projects

It remains to translate these local objectives into concrete projects. The tenant of Matignon therefore asks the department prefects to consolidate the shared diagnostics and operationalize the results of the regional COPs for the benefit of community, municipal and intercommunal projects.

Pour “coordinate and implement engineering needs”, senior officials will be able to rely on the recovery and ecological transition contracts (CRTE) signed in March 2021 between the State and intermunicipalities for a period of six years.

As announced by the Minister of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion Christophe Béchu at the conclusion of the Urban France Days on September 22, these CRTEs become “ success contracts for the ecological transition “. In other words, “a tool for implementing ecological planning at the finest level within a multi-year framework of State commitment”.

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And ” expert at today’s level » in the prefectures

The circular then returns to the calendar, the animation kit and the specific organizational arrangements. The prefects will notably benefit ” as soon as possible ” a guide to organizing and leading COPs and a standard method for leading CRTEs

Pour “provide the general secretariat of the regional COP”, there is even talk of a “high level expert” placed with the Secretary General for Regional Affairs (SGAR). In the regional prefectures, the SGAR represents and assists the regional prefect in the coordination of regional and interregional public policies in conjunction with the department prefectures.

Finally, it is requested to “take into account the specificities of each of [leurs] territories”, but also and especially in large cities and metropolises “in a spirit of complementarity and reciprocity with their periphery”. Extensive program…