region-identite-provisoire-carre-couleurUPDATE December 2015
The new, large region of ‘Languedoc-Roussillon, Midi-Pyrénées’ has designed its provisional logo, unveiled this week. It is temporary, until something a little more representative can be created, but this is what you will see on regional official documents for the time being.

The new, large region of ‘Languedoc-Roussillon, Midi-Pyrénées’ has revealed its provisional logo,

Unveiled this week. It is temporary, until something a little more representative can be created.

This is what you will see on regional official documents from January 2016 for the time being.

UPDATE August 2015
The new region, with 5,6 million residents over 72.700 square km, will have Toulouse as its capital – and things are expected to start moving in December of this year, 2015. But what to call this marriage between Midi-Pyrénées and Languedoc-Roussillon?
The ’Indépendant of August 8 has 13 suggestions. Any of them grab you?

Midi-Méditerranée
Midi-Languedoc
Midi-Roussillon
Le Midi
Paysd’Oc
Occitanie
Occitanie-Pyrénées
Pyrénées-Languedoc
Pyrénées-Méditerranée
Languedoc
Sud de France
Septimanie
Occitanie-Pays catalan

UPDATE MARCH 2015
The merging of Languedoc-Roussillon with the Midi-Pyrénées has now been voted in, and will take place in 2016.

The collective name for the new region has not yet been decided. The regional capital is likely to be either Montpellier or Toulouse.

A restructuring of villages or communes is also on the cards, with the minimum size rising from the present 5,000 to 20,000 inhabitants.

 

 

CUTTING UP FRANCE TO CUT DOWN PAPERWORK

 

 

French president Francois Hollande’s plan to cut down the 22 administrative regions of France by nearly half, to 14 “super-regions.”, has provoked much comment. In a country which is infamous throughout Europe for its mounds of paperwork for the most simple of tasks, orders, applications and requests in triplicate, and a large workforce of ‘fonctionnaires’ to process it, the aim is to reduce the bureaucracy, as well as creating regions of a size comparable to other European nations.

One problem is that many of the regions to be merged already have their own  have strong regional identities, and whilst many French agree that changes are needed, nobody wants to see their own regions affected! For example, Alsace is a relatively wealthy region, whose inhabitants really  don’t  want to join with their poorer neighbor Lorraine, which will apply if this plan is passed.

The colours on the map show the regions to be merged.

Hollande has written “It is time to simplify and clarify so  everyone knows who decides, who finances and from where.” If it goes ahead, it may well be Hollande’s major achievement.

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