THE MUNICIPALITIES COUNTER ATTACK.pdf

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Our collectivities’ wake-up call
Isolation, rural exodus, unemployment, poverty, and low resources allocation : small
municipalities are victims of a general abandonment. Left to fend for themselves, they are
suffocating due to the development of big cities.

« France abandons its small towns. »
That’s the concerning title that the newspaper « Le
Monde » used to ring the alarm three years ago.
Like many countries, the french state has a tendency
to allocate the biggest portion of the resources to
big cities, at the expense of small rural collectivities
of less than 10 000 inhabitants. Their small and aging
population does not allow them to create or being
allocated enough resources to guarantee their
population’s welfare or economic development.

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This situation leads to a vicious circle, as a small aging population means no attractivity. And with the
lack of economic attractivity comes the lack of opportunity for the youth and unemployment. The
younger population ends up migrating to big cities, promises of a better future. The collectivity’s
population is then even smaller, therefore getting even less resources from the state.

What is the solution to break that cycle ?
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Financial independence
Active involvement of the population
Sustainable development

Those are the three pillars for the rising of small
collectivites in France. The collectivities will have
to generate their own resources in a participative
way and create sustainable activities.
And that is why the initiative « The municipalities
counterattack » has been created.
THE PAPILLON SOURCE PRESENTS : THE MUNICIPALITIES COUNTERATTACK ! | EL4DEV - January 2021