For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
#1630665
There are nearly 37,000 mayors in France and plenty of room for corruption. I quote this Google translate of the Wikipedia page of a previous mayor of Angoulême.

The socialist mayor of Angoulême, Jean-Michel Boucheron held office for two consecutive terms from 1977 to 1989. Under his management the town reopened the ramparts, interrupted in the 1950s, restored Vieil Angoulême and completed works begun under the pre-1977 municipality.

In 1989, defeated in municipal elections, the deputy mayor left a 164 million franc deficit in the city’s finances and a debt of 1.2 billion francs (184 million euros) at interest rates of up to 20% and various illegal financing practices. This deficit endangered the city’s finances, which was one of the most indebted cities in France for many years.

Jean-Michel Boucheron fled to Argentina in February 1992 with his mistress and opened a restaurant in Buenos Aires "Chez Agnès".

On December 3, 1992, the National Assembly unanimously voted to lift his parliamentary immunity. He was charged with complicity in forgery, misappropriate of public funds and collusion.

He was extradited in 1997 and tried by the 11th chamber of the Criminal Court of Paris which handed down a sentence of four years in prison with two years suspended.

His legacy lives on as local property taxes had to be raised considerably leading to peripheral flight of the population. This explains the extensive housing developments in outlying suburbs and villages. It may have had an impact on the aerodrome, although the loss of Ryanair flights in 2010 must have made matters worse.

There are also:
Communautés de Communes
Conseils Départmentales
Conseils Régionales
Métropoles
Simon
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1630669
France is not alone, the UK had catastrophic local government in some places notably London Boroughs and Liverpool in the 1970s but in some respects the cure was worse than the disease, with massive increases in bureaucracy, political correctness and central government control.

We now have systemic corruption rather than individual corruption because government is in thrall to big business and the rules are designed to support their needs rather than those of local populations.

As we have said many times nothing is perfect but the French system retains much that was good about local democracy and that we lost in the Thatcher/Joseph era.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1630685
simon32 wrote:France also has this, eg the privatisation of the Autoroutes.
Simon


Our autoroutes and major roads have been privatised to some degree for aeons though it's not well known. Highways England, a government agency, contracts out various combinations of build, operate and maintain contracts to private companies who build and look after the roads for an upfront payment and a yearly fee against a spec, which is one reason we have quite a lot of potholes in some major roads and not others, it all depends on the contractor and how effective/efficient/conscientious they are and what the deal looked like.

A417/419 through the Cotswolds is approaching the end of a 30 year PFI deal with a consortium involving AMEC and Alfred MacAlpine, for example . That was carefully designed to match the likely life of a noisy stretch of concrete which will need replacing at vast expense in the next decade.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1630692
simon32 wrote:Autoroutes in France are toll roads. It has been estimated that Vinci made up the purchase price in three years after their sale by the de Villepin government.
Simon


It's an interesting one isn't it?

If the build cost is sunk, does it make sense to allow a private operator to make a really good living out of affordable tolls providing that he keeps the road clean and in good repair, or should we constrain his opportunity to make money.
#1631190
Lol- friend of my wife works in the “city hall” of Angouleme.

She is also the Mayor of her much smaller town a few km away.

I always found it amusing that the Mayor of one small town worked as a simple employee of a larger municipality.

Would that happen in the UK?
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1631191
OCB wrote:I always found it amusing that the Mayor of one small town worked as a simple employee of a larger municipality.

Would that happen in the UK?



There was no reason why not when Mayors were the "Chief Citizen"
#1631203
^^^^^
In Scots (which we all know isn’t a proper language), we’d maybe say High heidyin or a few other majestic words that are lost forever, but the concept of “wha dae ya think y’arr - ah kent yir faither” was pretty central to both Scots Catholic and Calvinists, even though you’d think they were a Royal (or Papal) mile apart.

Which is kinda interesting.
Scots feudalism, from what I have read and seen, was as brutal as most other feudal systems - but the “wir a’ in it th’gither” mentality never disappeared.

I’ve read papers that say it was due to a combination of factors - the main one being the grinding poverty of almost the entire population. A tithe worth twa roonds o’ a fairie’s whatever, came to not a lot.

The survival of a community dependended very much on the entire population working together- and not necessarily to the tune of the “boss”. Darwin 101 as the Yanks would say.

I’ve been convinced of this point for more than 30 years - and happily taken on all other explanations, but still I stick to this one (until proven otherwise).

The limited resources and small numbers in a community, even with Clan connections , meant that from Chief to lowest dogsbody was a couple of hops.