French mayors, seen as the heart-elected officials of the French, express growing feelings of powerlessness at their annual congress in Paris. From November 17 to 20, 2025, around 12,000 delegates gather to discuss challenges from centralization and the rise of intercommunal structures. Ahead of the 2026 municipal elections, they denounce a dispossession of their local powers.
Municipal elections are often presented as the most important vote in France, on par with the presidential election. They embody proximity democracy, allowing the designation of the mayor, this heart-elected official of the French. The mayors' congress, opening on Monday, November 17, 2025, in Paris and running until November 20, takes on the air of a major political gathering. Just months before the municipal elections on March 15 and 22, 2026, the event draws 12,000 delegates, 400 accredited journalists, 60 organized events, and about ten ministers, including Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
Yet, many mayors describe themselves as powerless in the face of evolving administrative landscapes. Since 2017, the state has proclaimed decentralization but acted oppositely, by abolishing local taxes and multiplying contradictory injunctions. The growing weight of regulations hampers their initiatives. Above all, the rise of intercommunalités – or 'comcom' for communautés de communes – deprives them of most decision-making powers.
A mayor from Haute-Saône, interviewed recently in his commune, complains: 'We are transferring everything to the "comcom". I am left with water, forests, and troubles. We are emptying the substance of our communes. In the long term, they will die. We will become ghost towns by day and dormitory towns by night.' Another adds: 'If we are only there for the cemetery and stray dogs, what is the point of being mayor?' These testimonies highlight a deep malaise among local elected officials, who fear for the vitality of communes amid this disguised recentralization.