In an address, published on the l’Elysée website, President Hollande has put forward proposals for changes to the regions of France, in an attempt to cut costs and reduce bureaucracy in the government system.
There is set to be a parliamentary debate on the issue, but the changes proposed would see the following regions come together:
Poitou-Charentes, Centre and Limousin
Midi-Pyrénées and Languedoc-Roussillon
Champagne-Ardenne and Picardy
Burgundy and Franche-Comté
Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes
Alsace and Lorraine
Lower and Upper-Normandy
The following would be unchanged: Brittany, Pays de la Loire, Aquitaine, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Corsica, Ile-de-France and Paca (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur).
Prime Minister Manuel Valls claimed that savings of around €25billion were possible with cuts in administration costs and efficiency savings.
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