Bobdude Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Good Evening everybody. I realise that the Maire of a Commune has quite considerable power and influence, but I wonder whether there is anywhere to air a grievance concerning a Maire, an authority that he/she has to answer to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh4 Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Depending on where you are they may be responsible to the head of the canton - maire of the head town in the area - but ultimately they will be responsible to the Conseil General for your department.All I would say is tread very, very carefully. These are elected positions and the maires are generally held in high esteem - even by those who hate the individuals with a vengeance.Perhaps there is another way, if you are prepared to share your grievance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Agree with Andy, BD, tread very carefully on this. That being said, I do know one case where a maire was taken to court and lost, but the plaintiff had great resilience and power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTrash Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Mayors do upset people, it goes with the job because people want different things and they can't please everyone. Before you start getting third parties involved you want to establish how much support you would have in the commune, because if you start anything it will be talked about and people will take sides. Don't forget that most of them voted for him or he wouldn't be in office, and no doubt they will have had their ups and downs with him over the years but he's still "their" mayor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobdude Posted February 1, 2018 Author Share Posted February 1, 2018 At this point in time we have seen a mediator at the Prefecture, who has written to the Maire. The story is too long to go into detail, but I just wanted to know whether they had to answer to anyone or, as I suspected, they are a supreme power. As the issue has been on-going for 4 years now, I don’t want to drag it out even longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTrash Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 AFAIK they don't answer to anyone as such but they do have to make sure that national and local laws are adhered to which obviously cover a lot of areas, and they have specific responsibilities. If they don't observe the law or they don't meet their responsibilities then they are answerable in that sense. Beyond that, a lot is left up to their judgement. If no laws are being broken or going unobserved in the commune, and they are not turning a blind eye to problems, but are just making poor decisions and not running the commune well, all you can do is not elect them again. Some mayors are better than others. In some communes nobody wants to be mayor but someone has to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Problems with maires are frequently related to land deals, land use and planning permissions. In small communities it is frequent that people in power may have direct or indirect interests in decisions. IME. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardian Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Indeed. A Maire or two ago here was ‘unfrocked’ over some dodgy tax arrangements which advantaged his brother, who BTW was / remains the major employer in the area.It created a hell of a fuss here, with the old ‘clan’ disputes surfacing. Only now, after 7 or 8 years, is it beginning to subside, although I doubt that it has been forgotten by the two sides.Tread carefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTrash Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Another point that might or might not be relevant here is that some decisions are taken by the conseil municipal after discussion, which might in practice come down to the same thing as the mayor making the decision but technically it means he can't be held personally responsible for a collective decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 I'm not sure that it's correct that the people in the commune vote for the Maire. I thought it was the 'village council' who choose one of theirs. And they're volunteers, rather than elected representatives. Maybe that's just in the small communes like ours.Talking to a few locals, it was difficult to find someone to be Maire last time. A complicated thankless job, rules and laws constantly changing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh4 Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Our commune is only around 260 souls but every one of the council representatives is elected.Maybe your council has fewer candidates than places available.But yes the maire is selected by the councillors - in our case nominally since they chose the person with the highest number of votes in the election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Our commune has only about 90 habitants now. I expect it will be combined with others nearby soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 http://www.vie-publique.fr/actualite/dossier/municipales-2008/competences-obligations-maires.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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