97-627: In the administrative divisions of France , the department ( French : département , pronounced [depaʁtəmɑ̃] ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities "), between the administrative regions and the communes . There are ninety-six departments in metropolitan France , with an additional five overseas departments , which are also classified as overseas regions. Departments are further subdivided into 333 arrondissements and 2,054 cantons (as of 2023). These last two levels of government have no political autonomy, instead serving as
194-462: A county of the United States . At the 2001 census, the median population of a department in continental France was 511,000 inhabitants, which is 21 times the median population of a United States county, but less than two-thirds of the median population of a ceremonial county of England and Wales. Most of the departments have an area of between 4,000 and 8,000 km (1500 to 3000 sq. mi.), and
291-679: A miller . When Hollande was thirteen, the family moved to Neuilly-sur-Seine , a highly exclusive suburb of Paris. He attended Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-la-Salle boarding school, a private Catholic school in Rouen, the Lycée Pasteur , in Neuilly-sur-Seine, receiving his baccalaureate in 1972 then graduated with a bachelor's degree in Law from Panthéon-Assas University . Hollande studied at HEC Paris , graduated in 1975, and then attended
388-470: A 75% income tax rate on revenue earned above 1,000,000 euros per year, to generate the provision of development funds for deprived suburbs, and to return to a deficit of zero per cent of GDP by 2017. The tax plan proved controversial, with courts ruling it unconstitutional in 2012, only to then take the opposite position on a redrafted version in 2013. Hollande had also announced several reforms to education, pledging to recruit 60,000 new teachers, to create
485-459: A book about her time with Hollande titled Merci pour ce moment ( Thank You for This Moment ) . The memoir claimed the president presented himself as disliking the rich, but in reality disliked the poor. The claim brought an angry reaction and rejection from Hollande, who said he had spent his life dedicated to the under-privileged. On 4 June 2022, Hollande married Gayet in Tulle, France. Hollande
582-667: A candidate in the upcoming primary election to select the Socialist and Radical Left Party presidential nominee. The primary marked the first time that both parties had held an open primary to select a joint nominee at the same time. He initially trailed the front-runner, former finance minister and International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn . Following Strauss-Kahn's arrest on suspicion of sexual assault in New York City in May 2011, Hollande began to lead
679-424: A key part of his campaign. On 26 January, he outlined a full list of policies in a manifesto containing 60 propositions, including the separation of retail activities from riskier investment-banking businesses; raising taxes on big corporations, banks and the wealthy; creating 60,000 teaching jobs; bringing the official retirement age back down to 60 from 62; creating subsidised jobs in areas of high unemployment for
776-498: A more uniform division into departments ( département ) and districts in late 1789. The process began on 4 August 1789 with the elimination of provincial privileges, and a 22 December 1789 decree (with letters patent in January 1790) provided for the termination of the provincial governments. The modern department system, as all-purpose units of the government, was decreed on 26 February 1790 (with letters patent on 4 March 1790) by
873-593: A new low of 12%, according to a YouGov poll. Following the Charlie Hebdo shooting in January 2015, however, approval for Hollande increased dramatically, reaching 40% according to an IFOP poll two weeks after the attack, though an Ipsos-Le Point survey in early February showed his rating declining back to 30%. Hollande ultimately registered the least popularity for a president of the French Fifth Republic . In September 2014, his approval rating
970-511: A population between 320,000 and 1 million. The largest in area is Gironde (10,000 km (3,900 sq mi).), while the smallest is the city of Paris (105 km (41 sq mi).). The most populous is Nord (2,550,000) and the least populous is Lozère (74,000). The departments are numbered: their two-digit numbers appear in postal codes , in INSEE codes (including "social security numbers") and on vehicle number plates . Initially
1067-404: A president. Their main areas of responsibility include the management of a number of social and welfare allowances, of junior high school ( collège ) buildings and technical staff, and local roads and school and rural buses, and a contribution to municipal infrastructures. Local services of the state administration are traditionally organised at departmental level, where the prefect represents
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#17327877504121164-481: A reduction of the corporate tax rate to 30% for medium corporations and 15% for small. Hollande's government has announced plans to construct 500,000 public homes per year, including 150,000 social houses , funded by a doubling of the ceiling of the Livret A , the region making available its local government land within five years. In accordance with long-standing Socialist Party policy, Hollande has announced that
1261-434: A second ballot against Martine Aubry , who had come in second with 30% of the vote. The second ballot took place on 16 October 2011. Hollande won with 56% of the vote to Aubry's 43% and thus became the official Socialist and Radical Left Party candidate for the 2012 presidential election . All his main opponents in the primary – Aubry, Ségolène Royal, Arnaud Montebourg , and Manuel Valls – pledged their support to him for
1358-614: A single office [...] and that it should be directly chosen" by the members of the European Parliament . On 11 January 2013, Hollande authorised the execution of Operation Serval , which aimed to curtail the activities of Islamist extremists in the north of Mali. The intervention was popularly supported in Mali, as Hollande promised that his government would do all it could to "rebuild Mali". During his one-day visit to Bamako , Mali's capital, on 2 February 2013, he said that it
1455-399: A study allowance and means-tested training, and to set up a mutually beneficial contract that would allow a generation of experienced employees and craftsmen to be the guardians and teachers of younger newly hired employees, thereby creating a total of 150,000 subsidized jobs. This was complemented by the promise of aid to SMEs , with the creation of a public bank investment-oriented SME's, and
1552-417: A three-digit number. The number is used, for example, in the postal code and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates . Residents commonly use the numbers to refer to their own department or a neighbouring one, for example inhabitants of Loiret may refer to their department as "the 45". More distant departments are generally referred to by their names, as few people know the numbers of all
1649-648: Is a French politician who served as the 24th president of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from 2001 to 2008, as well as President of the General Council of Corrèze from 2008 to 2012. He also held the 1st constituency of Corrèze seat in the National Assembly for the third time, first from 1988 to 1993, then from 1997 until 2012 and
1746-533: Is commonly associated, though not all are officially recognised or used. Unlike the rest of the French possessions in Africa , Algeria was divided into departments just like Corsica or Normandy from 1848 until its independence in 1962. These departments were supposed to be "assimilated" or "integrated" to France sometime in the future. There are a number of former departments in territories conquered by France during
1843-667: Is critical of the domestic policies of his successor Emmanuel Macron, but also of his former left-wing political rival Jean-Luc Mélenchon , who led the left-wing union in the 2022 legislative elections. On 12 November 2023, he participated in the March for the Republic and Against Antisemitism in Paris in response to the rise in antisemitism since the start of the Israel–Hamas war . On 15 June 2024, Hollande announced his candidacy for
1940-411: Is known as the prefecture ( préfecture ) or chef-lieu de département and is generally a town of some importance roughly at the geographical centre of the department. This was determined according to the time taken to travel on horseback from the periphery of the department. The goal was for the prefecture to be accessible on horseback from any town in the department within 24 hours. The prefecture
2037-562: Is not necessarily the largest city in the department: for instance, in Saône-et-Loire department the capital is Mâcon , but the largest city is Chalon-sur-Saône . Departments may be divided into arrondissements . The capital of an arrondissement is called a subprefecture ( sous-préfecture ) or chef-lieu d'arrondissement . Each department is administered by a departmental council ( conseil départemental ), an assembly elected for six years by universal suffrage , with
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#17327877504122134-541: Is shared across some or all levels of government (e.g. transport, parks, tourism, culture, and sport get different types of support from different levels). Historically, France was divided into a complex mosaic of more or less independent entities. Their gradual incorporation into France as provinces may be followed in the article Territorial formation of France . Fran%C3%A7ois Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande ( French: [fʁɑ̃swa ʒeʁaʁ ʒɔʁʒ(ə) nikɔla ɔlɑ̃d] ; born 12 August 1954)
2231-552: Is unique in the French Republic: it is the only French local government that is not a territorial collectivity (although its subdivisions are territorial collectivities). It is regarded as a sui generis collectivity , which means that local government and parliament have the power to pass and enforce specific laws without seeking the consent of the French Government; unless such laws are declared illegitimate by
2328-653: The Ponts et Chaussées (Bridges and Highways) infrastructure administration. Before the French Revolution , France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the end of the Ancien Régime it was organised into provinces . During the Revolution they were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. The National Constituent Assembly decided to create
2425-669: The 1823 French intervention ending the trienio liberal ) and the 1833 territorial division of Spain , which forms the basis of the present day Provinces of Spain with minor modifications, are also based on the French model of departments of roughly equal size. Most French departments are assigned a two-digit number, the Official Geographical Code, allocated by the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques ( Insée ). Overseas departments have
2522-531: The 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict , and told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , "France strongly condemns these aggressions [by Hamas]." In September 2015, Hollande warned former Eastern Bloc countries against rejecting the EU mandatory migrant quotas , saying: "Those who don't share our values, those who don't even want to respect those principles, need to start asking themselves questions about their place in
2619-520: The Court of Audit . Five years after volunteering as a student to work for François Mitterrand 's ultimately unsuccessful campaign in the 1974 presidential election , Hollande joined the Socialist Party . He was quickly spotted by Jacques Attali , a senior adviser to Mitterrand, who arranged for Hollande to run in legislative election of 1981 in Corrèze against future President Jacques Chirac , who
2716-639: The French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire that are now not part of France: Dutch Republic : Holy Roman Empire : Dutch Republic : Holy Roman Empire : Dutch Republic : Holy Roman Empire : Holy Roman Empire : Electorate of the Palatinate Electorate of the Palatinate Kingdom of Prussia : Imperial Free City of Wesel (after 1805) Notes for Table 7: Administrative divisions of France The administrative divisions of France are concerned with
2813-549: The French Southern and Antarctic Lands , which have no permanent population and no communes. French subdivisions that have a (limited) freedom of administration are called territorial collectivities . Among them are regions, departments, communes, overseas collectivities, provinces (only present in New Caledonia), and the territorial collectivity of Corsica which belongs to no category (but is usually grouped with
2910-540: The French referendum on the European constitution caused friction within the party. Although Hollande was re-elected as first secretary at the Le Mans Congress in 2005, his authority over the party began to decline. Eventually his domestic partner, Ségolène Royal , was chosen to represent the party in the 2007 presidential election , where she would lose to Nicolas Sarkozy . Hollande was widely blamed for
3007-473: The ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes for the metropolitan departments. The overseas departments have three digits. Originally, the relationship between the departments and the central government was left somewhat ambiguous. While citizens in each department elected their own officials, the local governments were subordinated to the central government, becoming instruments of national integration. By 1793, however,
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3104-573: The Institut d'études politiques de Paris and the École nationale d'administration (ENA). He completed his military service in the French Army in 1977. He graduated from the ENA in 1980, and chose to enter the prestigious Cour des comptes . Hollande lived in the United States in the summer of 1974 while he was a university student. Immediately after graduation, he was employed as a councillor in
3201-572: The National Assembly . Hollande lost his bid for re-election to the Assembly in the so-called "blue wave" of the 1993 election , described as such due to the number of seats gained by the Right at the expense of the Socialist Party. As the end of Mitterrand's term in office approached, the Socialist Party was torn by a struggle of internal factions, each seeking to influence the direction of
3298-594: The National Constituent Assembly . Their boundaries served two purposes: The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments. Most were named after an area's principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine . Savoy , during its temporary occupation, became the department of Mont-Blanc . The provinces continued to exist administratively until 21 September 1791. The number of departments, initially 83, had been increased to 130 by 1809 with
3395-573: The New Popular Front in the first constituency of Corrèze for the 2024 French legislative election . Hollande's decision to contest the election was considered surprising, including among fellow PS members. He qualified, in first place, for a three-way second round against candidates from the National Rally and The Republicans , and was elected with 43 percent of the vote in the runoff. For twenty nine years, his partner
3492-757: The President of France . The French Republic is divided into 18 regions: 12 in mainland France and 6 elsewhere (1 in Europe : Corsica ; 2 in the Caribbean (the Lesser Antilles ): Guadeloupe and Martinique ; 1 in South America : French Guiana ; and 2 in the Indian Ocean near East Africa : Mayotte and Réunion ). They are traditionally divided between the metropolitan regions, located on
3589-605: The President of the Departmental Council as executive of the department. Before 1982, the chief executive of the department was the prefect ( préfet ), who represents the Government of France in each department and is appointed by the President of the French Republic . The prefect is assisted by one or more sub-prefects ( sous-préfet ) based in the subprefectures of the department. Since 1982,
3686-586: The Territoire de Belfort ; the remaining parts of Meurthe and Moselle were merged into a new Meurthe-et-Moselle department. When France regained the ceded departments after World War I , the Territoire de Belfort was not reintegrated into Haut-Rhin. In 1922 it became France's 90th department. Likewise the Lorraine departments were not changed back to their original boundaries, and a new Moselle department
3783-673: The UMP , said in December 2008 that the fusion of the departments with the regions was a matter to be dealt with soon. This was soon refuted by Édouard Balladur and Gérard Longuet , members of the committee for the reform of local authorities, known as the Balladur Committee. In January 2008, the Attali Commission recommended that the departmental level of government should be eliminated within ten years. Nevertheless,
3880-551: The retirement age will revert to 60, for those who have contributed for more than 41 years. Hollande has also announced his personal support for same-sex marriage and adoption for LGBT couples , and outlined plans to pursue the issue in early 2013. In July 2012, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced that "In the first half of 2013, the right to marriage and adoption will be open to all couples, without discrimination", confirming this election promise by Hollande. The bill to legalize same-sex marriage, known as Bill no. 344,
3977-661: The 2003 party congress in Dijon , he obtained the support of many notable personalities of the party and was re-elected first secretary against opposition from left-wing factions. After the triumph of the Left in the 2004 regional elections , Hollande was cited as a potential presidential candidate, but the Socialists were divided on the European Constitution , and Hollande's support for the ill-fated "Yes" position in
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4074-410: The Balladur Committee has not retained this proposition and does not advocate the disappearance of the departments, but simply "favors the voluntary grouping of departments", which it suggests also for the regions, with the aim of reducing the number of regions to 15. This committee advocates, on the contrary, the suppression of the cantons. Each department has a coat of arms and a flag with which it
4171-688: The Constitutional Council in a specific proceeding brought to the Constitutional Council. As agreed in the 1998 Nouméa Accord , a New Caledonian citizenship was established (in addition to the French citizenship which is kept in parallel, along with the consequent European citizenship) and a self-determination referendum was held in 2018 . Two follow-up referendums were held in 2020 and 2021 . These territories have no permanent civilian population. The residents consist of military personnel, scientific researchers, and support staff. 1 overseas territory ( territoire d'outre-mer , or TOM):
4268-709: The European Union". Hollande supported the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen , re-supplying the Saudi military. France authorised $ 18 billion (€16 billion) in arms sales to Saudi Arabia in 2015. In 2014, French bank BNP Paribas agreed to pay an $ 8.9 billion fine, the largest ever for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran at that time. In October 2016, Hollande said: "When the (European) Commission goes after Google or digital giants which do not pay
4365-434: The European continent, and the overseas regions, located outside the European continent. Both have the same status and form the most integrated part of the French Republic. As of 1 January 2022 , metropolitan France is divided into the following: Furthermore, as of January 2009 , there exist 2,585 intercommunal structures grouping 34,077 communes (93.2% of all the communes of metropolitan France), with 87.4% of
4462-482: The French weekly Télé 7 Jours . She remained a reporter for the magazine Paris Match , but ceased work on political stories. Trierweiler moved into the Élysée Palace with Hollande when he became president and started to accompany him on official travel. On 25 January 2014, Hollande officially announced his separation from Valérie Trierweiler after the tabloid magazine Closer revealed his affair with actress Julie Gayet . In September 2014, Trierweiler published
4559-616: The National Assembly. That same year, Jospin became the Prime Minister of France , and Hollande won the election for his successor as First Secretary of the party, a position he would hold for eleven years. Because of the very strong position of the Socialist Party within the French government during this period, Hollande's position led some to refer to him the "Vice Prime Minister". Hollande would go on to be elected mayor of Tulle in 2001, an office he would hold for
4656-462: The PS, Hollande was cited as a potential presidential candidate, but he resigned as First Secretary and was immediately elected to replace Jean-Pierre Dupont as President of the General Council of Corrèze in 2008. In 2011, Hollande announced that he would be a candidate in the primary election to select the PS presidential nominee; he won the nomination against Martine Aubry before he was elected to
4753-787: The Republic (all created in 1946) – French Guiana , Guadeloupe , Martinique and Réunion – the total number of departments in the French Republic had become 101. In 2015 the Urban Community of Lyon was split from Rhône to form the Métropole de Lyon , a sui generis entity, with the powers of both an intercommunality and those of a department on its territory, formally classified as a "territorial collectivity with particular status" ( French : collectivité territoriale à statut particulier ) and as such not belonging to any department. As of 2019 Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse are still administrative departments, although they no longer have
4850-422: The Socialist proposals and claiming that Hollande would bring about "economic disaster within two days of taking office". Opinion polls showed a tight race between the two men in the first round of voting, with most polls showing Hollande comfortably ahead of Sarkozy in a hypothetical second round. The first round of the presidential election was held on 22 April. François Hollande came in first place with 28.63% of
4947-613: The UN Security Council in order to stabilise those countries, two operations however largely seen as failures. He drew controversy among his left-wing electoral base for supporting the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen . Under Hollande’s presidency, Paris hosted the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference , and his efforts to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to the city were successful. However, with domestic troubles – in particular due to Islamic terrorism – over
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#17327877504125044-422: The administrative basis for the local organisation of police, fire departments as well as, in certain cases, elections. Each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council ( sg. conseil départemental , pl. conseils départementaux ). From 1800 to April 2015, these were called general councils ( sg. conseil général , pl. conseils généraux ). Each council has
5141-673: The commemorations of the end of the Second World War, alongside Nicolas Sarkozy, following the latter's invitation. On 10 May 2012, the Constitutional Council announced the official results of the presidential election; and on 15 May 2012, the transfer of power took place. While refusing to sit on the Constitutional Council , of which he is an ex-officio member, François Hollande continues to comment publicly on French and international political life through several books and university lectures. In his books, he
5238-413: The country's capital city, is a commune as well as a department. In continental France ( metropolitan France , excluding Corsica ), the median land area of a department is 5,965 km (2,303 sq mi), which is two-and-a-half times the median land area of the ceremonial counties of England and the preserved counties of Wales and slightly more than three-and-half times the median land area of
5335-577: The course of his tenure, and unemployment rising to 10%, he faced spikes and downturns in approval rates, ultimately making him the most unpopular head of state under the Fifth Republic . On 1 December 2016, he announced he would not seek reelection in the 2017 presidential election , for which polls suggested his defeat in the first round. Hollande was born on 12 August 1954 in Rouen . His mother, Nicole Frédérique Marguerite Tribert (1927–2009),
5432-569: The creation of a Franco-German research office, the creation of a Franco-German industrial fund to finance common competitiveness clusters, and the establishment of a common military headquarters". As well as this, Hollande has expressed a wish to "combine the positions of the presidents of the European Commission and of the European Council (currently held by José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy respectively) into
5529-422: The departments. In 2014, President François Hollande proposed abolishing departmental councils by 2020, which would have maintained the departments as administrative divisions, and transferring their powers to other levels of governance. This reform project has since been scrapped. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René d'Argenson to serve as administrative areas purely for
5626-438: The general election. Hollande's presidential campaign was managed by Pierre Moscovici and Stéphane Le Foll , a member of Parliament and Member of the European Parliament respectively. Hollande launched his campaign officially with a rally and major speech at Le Bourget on 22 January 2012 in front of 25,000 people. The main themes of his speech were equality and the regulation of finance, both of which he promised to make
5723-618: The government; however, regions have gained importance since the 2000s, with some department-level services merged into region-level services. The departments were created in 1790 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity; the title "department" is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after physical geographical features (rivers, mountains, or coasts), rather than after historical or cultural territories, which could have their own loyalties, or after their own administrative seats. The division of France into departments
5820-476: The institutional and territorial organization of French territory. These territories are located in many parts of the world. There are many administrative divisions, which may have political ( local government ), electoral (districts), or administrative (decentralized services of the state) objectives. All the inhabited territories are represented in the National Assembly , Senate and Economic and Social Council and their citizens have French citizenship and elect
5917-467: The main measures of the bill allowed companies to temporarily cut workers' salaries or hours during times of economic difficulty. This measure took its inspiration from Germany, where furloughs have been credited with allowing companies to weather difficult times without resorting to massive layoffs. Layoffs in France are often challenged in courts and the cases can take years to resolve. Many companies cite
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#17327877504126014-533: The mandatory retirement age, as many economists had advised, Hollande pursued increases in contributions, leaving the retirement age untouched. The reform had a rough ride in parliament, being rejected twice by the Senate, where Hollande's Socialist Party has a slim majority, before it won sufficient backing in a final vote before the lower house of parliament. French private sector workers saw the size and duration of their pension contributions increase only modestly under
6111-657: The new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice and a portion of the Var department. The 89 departments were given numbers based on the alphabetical order of their names. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe , Moselle , Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871 following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War . A small part of Haut-Rhin, however, remained French and became known as
6208-429: The next seven years. The immediate resignation of Jospin from politics following his shock defeat by far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen in the first round of the 2002 presidential election forced Hollande to become the public face of the party for the 2002 legislative election . Although he managed to limit defeats and was re-elected in his own constituency , the Socialists lost nationally. In order to prepare for
6305-407: The numbers corresponded to the alphabetical order of the names of the departments, but several changed their names and some have been divided, so the correspondence became less exact. Alphanumeric codes 2A and 2B were used for Corsica while it was split but it has since reverted to 20. The two-digit code "98" is used by Monaco . Together with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code FR, the numbers form
6402-407: The opinion polls, and his position as front-runner was established just as Strauss-Kahn declared that he would no longer seek the nomination. After a series of televised debates with other candidates throughout September, Hollande topped the ballot in the first round held on 9 October with 39% of the vote. He did not, however, gain the 50% required to avoid a run-off election , and was obliged to enter
6499-496: The party. Hollande pleaded for reconciliation and for the party to unite behind Jacques Delors , the President of the European Commission , but Delors renounced his ambitions to run for the French presidency in 1995 . Former party leader Lionel Jospin resumed his position, and selected Hollande to become the official party spokesman. Hollande went on to contest Corrèze once again in 1997 , successfully returning to
6596-500: The pension system in France. The process proved to be very contentious, with members of Parliament, Labor Unions, and general public all opposed. Mass protests and demonstrations occurred throughout Paris. Despite the opposition, the French Parliament did pass a reform in December 2013 aimed at plugging a pension deficit expected to reach 20.7 billion euros ($ 28.4 billion) by 2020 if nothing were to be done. Rather than raising
6693-517: The poor performances of the Socialist Party in the 2007 elections , and he announced that he would not seek another term as First Secretary. Hollande publicly declared his support for Bertrand Delanoë , the mayor of Paris , but it was Martine Aubry who would go on to win the race to succeed him in 2008. Hollande was next elected to replace Jean-Pierre Dupont as the president of the General Council of Corrèze in April 2008, and won re-election in 2011. Hollande announced in early 2011 that he would be
6790-459: The population of metropolitan France living in them. These intercommunal structures are: Five overseas regions ( régions d'outre-mer , or ROM), which have the same status as metropolitan regions. The overseas regions are as follows: The French Republic includes five overseas collectivities ( collectivités d'outre-mer , or COM) with a semi-autonomous status: The French Republic includes one autonomous collectivity : New Caledonia's status
6887-429: The prefect retains only the powers that are not delegated to the department councils. In practice, their role has been largely limited to preventing local policy from conflicting with national policy. The departments are further divided into communes , governed by municipal councils . As of 2013, there were 36,681 communes in France. In the overseas territories , some communes play a role at departmental level. Paris ,
6984-515: The presidency (becoming also, ex officio , Co-Prince of Andorra ) on 6 May 2012 in the second round with 51.6% of the vote, defeating incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy . During his tenure, Hollande legalized same-sex marriage by passing Bill no. 344 , reformed labour laws and credit training programmes, signed a law restricting the cumul des mandats , and withdrew French forces in Afghanistan , in addition to concluding an EU directive on
7081-583: The protection of animals in laboratory research through a Franco-German contract . Hollande led the country through the January and November 2015 Paris attacks, as well as the 2016 Nice attack . He was a leading proponent of EU mandatory migrant quotas and NATO 's 2011 military intervention in Libya . He also sent troops to Mali and the Central African Republic with the approval of
7178-427: The reform while their retirement benefits were largely untouched. As President, Hollande promised an early withdrawal of French combat troops present in Afghanistan in 2012. He also pledged to conclude a new contract of Franco-German partnership , advocating the adoption of a Directive on the protection of public services. Hollande has proposed "an acceleration of the establishment of a Franco-German civic service,
7275-493: The regions). New Caledonia is unique as it is not a territorial collectivity. Citizens from all parts of France, including the overseas administrative divisions, vote in national elections ( presidential , legislative ), and all of the collectivities are represented in the Senate . Some areas are the clear responsibility of one level of government (e.g. the state is responsible for international issues), but in other areas it
7372-412: The revolutionary government had turned the departments into transmission belts for policies enacted in Paris. With few exceptions, the departments had this role until the early 1960s. These maps cannot be used as a useful resource of voter preferences, because Departmental Councils are elected on a two-round system, which drastically limits the chances of fringe parties, if they are not supported on one of
7469-588: The right to take a leave of absence to work at another company. The law will also require all companies to offer and partially pay for supplemental health insurance. Lastly, the law also reforms unemployment insurance, so that someone out of work doesn't risk foregoing significant benefits when taking a job that might pay less than previous work or end up only being temporary. Under the new law, workers will be able to essentially put benefits on hold when they take temporary work, instead of seeing their benefits recalculated each time. As President, Hollande pursued reform to
7566-655: The separation of lending and investment in banks, reducing the share of electricity generated by nuclear power in France from 75 to 50% in favour of renewable energy sources, merging income tax and the General Social Contribution (CSG) , creating an additional 45% for additional income of 150,000 euros, capping tax loopholes at a maximum of €10,000 per year, and questioning the relief solidarity tax on wealth (ISF, Impôt de Solidarité sur la Fortune ) measure that should bring €29 billion in additional revenue. Hollande also signalled his intent to implement
7663-428: The status of departmental " territorial collectivities ": region and department functions have been managed by a " single territorial collectivity " since 2018. Despite the intention to avoid the old nomenclature, often the names of pre-1790 provinces remained in use. For example, the name of Berry , though no longer having an official status, remains in widespread use in daily life. The departmental seat of government
7760-570: The taxes they should in Europe, America takes offence. And yet, they quite shamelessly demand 8 billion from BNP or 5 billion from Deutsche Bank." An IFOP poll released in April 2014 showed that Hollande's approval rating had dropped five points since the previous month of March to 18%, dipping below his earlier low of 20% in February during the same year. In November 2014, his approval rating reached
7857-591: The territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire . Following the defeats of Napoleon in 1814–1815 the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size and the number of departments was reduced to 86 (three of the original departments having been split). In 1860 France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy , which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from
7954-493: The threat of lengthy court action – even more than any financial cost – as the most difficult part of doing business in France. The law shortens the time that employees have to contest a layoff and also lays out a scheme for severance pay. The government hopes this will help employees and companies reach agreement faster in contentious layoffs. Another key measure introduced was credits for training that follow employees throughout their career, regardless of where they work, and
8051-547: The two joint heads of state of the Principality of Andorra . Hollande hosted a visit from Antoni Martí , head of the government , and Vicenç Mateu Zamora , leader of the parliament . He also appointed Benoît Puga to be the military's chief of staff, Pierre-René Lemas as his general secretary and Pierre Besnard as his Head of Cabinet. Hollande's full Council of Ministers became the first ever in France to show gender parity, with 17 men and 17 women, and each member
8148-455: The two rounds by a moderate party. After the 1992 election, the left had a majority in only 21 of the 100 departments; after the 2011 election, the left dominated 61 of the 100 departments. (Mayotte only became a department after the election.) Key to the parties: The removal of one or more levels of local government has been discussed for some years; in particular, the option of removing the departmental level. Frédéric Lefebvre , spokesman for
8245-402: The vote, and faced Nicolas Sarkozy in a run-off. In the second round of voting on 6 May 2012, Hollande was elected with 51.6% of the vote. Hollande was inaugurated on 15 May 2012, and shortly afterwards appointed Jean-Marc Ayrault to be his Prime Minister . He was the first Socialist Party president since François Mitterrand left office in 1995. The President of the French Republic is one of
8342-492: The young; promoting more industry in France by creating a public investment bank; granting marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples; and pulling French troops out of Afghanistan in 2012. On 9 February, he detailed his policies specifically relating to education in a major speech in Orléans . Incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy announced on 15 February that he would run for a second and final term, strongly criticising
8439-611: Was "the most important day in [his] political life". In 2014, Hollande took some of these troops out of Mali and spread them over the rest of the Sahel under Operation Barkhane , in an effort to curb jihadist militants. On 27 February 2014, Hollande was a special guest of honor in Abuja, received by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in celebration of Nigeria's amalgamation in 1914, a 100-year anniversary. In July 2014, Hollande expressed support for Israel 's right to defend itself during
8536-524: Was a social worker , and his father, Georges Gustave Hollande (1922–2020), was a retired ear, nose, and throat doctor, who "ran for local election on a far right ticket in 1959". The name "Hollande" meant "one originally from Holland " – it is mostly found in Hollande's ancestral land, Hauts-de-France , and it is speculated to be Dutch in origin. The earliest known member of the Hollande family lived c. 1569 near Plouvain , working as
8633-487: Was a project particularly identified with the French revolutionary leader the Abbé Sieyès , although it had already been frequently discussed and written about by many politicians and thinkers. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1665 in the writings of d'Argenson . They have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. The 1822 territorial division of Spain (reverted due to
8730-472: Was created in the regained territory, with slightly different boundaries from the pre-war department of the same name. The reorganisation of Île-de-France in 1968 and the division of Corsica in 1975 added six more departments, raising the total in Metropolitan France to 96. By 2011, when the overseas collectivity of Mayotte became a department, joining the earlier overseas departments of
8827-399: Was down to 13% according to an IFOP/JDD survey. One year before the end of his mandate, in April 2016, his approval rating was placed at 14%, and surveys predicted that if he were to run for a second term, he would be defeated in the first round of the 2017 presidential elections . In November 2016, a poll found Hollande's approval rating to be just 4%. On 8 May 2012, Hollande took part in
8924-583: Was fellow Socialist politician Ségolène Royal , with whom he has four children: Thomas (1982), Clémence (1984), Julien (1987) and Flora (1992). In June 2007, just a month after Royal's defeat in the French presidential election of 2007 , the couple announced that they were separating. A few months after his split from Ségolène Royal was announced, a French website published details of a relationship between Hollande and French journalist Valérie Trierweiler . In November 2007, Trierweiler confirmed and openly discussed her relationship with Hollande in an interview with
9021-441: Was introduced to the National Assembly of France on 7 November 2012. On 12 February 2013, the National Assembly approved the bill in a 329–229 vote. The Right-wing opposed the bill. The Senate approved the full bill with a 171–165 majority on 12 April with minor amendments. On 23 April, the National Assembly approved the amended bill, in a 331–225 vote, and following approval of the law by the Constitutional Council of France , it
9118-472: Was reelected in 2024. Born in Rouen and raised in Neuilly-sur-Seine , Hollande began his political career as a special advisor to newly elected President François Mitterrand before serving as a staffer for Max Gallo the government's spokesman. He became a member of the National Assembly in 1988 and was elected First Secretary of the PS in 1997. Following the 2004 regional elections won by
9215-543: Was required to sign a new "code of ethics" that placed significant restrictions on their conduct and compensation, above that of existing law. The first measure enacted by the new government was to lower the salaries of the President, the Prime Minister, and other members of the government by 30%. Hollande's economic policies are wide-ranging, including supporting the creation of a European credit rating agency ,
9312-475: Was signed into law by President Hollande on 18 May 2013, with the first same-sex weddings under the law taking place eleven days later. As President, Hollande pursued labour reform to make France more competitive internationally. Legislation for this, introduced in late 2012, after much debate passed the French lower and upper house in May 2013. The bill included measures such as making it easier for workers to change jobs and for companies to fire employees. One of
9409-464: Was then the leader of the Rally for the Republic , a Neo-Gaullist party. Hollande lost to Chirac in the first round. He went on to become a special advisor to newly elected President Mitterrand, before serving as a staffer for Max Gallo , the government's spokesman. After becoming a municipal councillor for Ussel in 1983, he contested Corrèze for a second time in 1988 , this time being elected to
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