Abstract
Following major reforms between 1982 and 1986, the local government system continued to develop with successive touches on the helm, but with no strong guiding hand. Apart from an energy policy encouraging intermunicipal co-operation, which met with considerable success over a short time, regional structures and competencies barely changed. Modernization of local administration made patchy progress. Certain major reforms were successfully introduced (local accounting, laws governing public tenders, public service delegation contracts, local authority regulations, etc.), but others languished. The general system of controls remains almost unchanged but benefits from regular increases in the powers of judges, thanks largely to general laws (reform of emergency procedures before administrative judges). However, the modernization project is generating new problems that need to be resolved.
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