Country perimeters in Midi-Pyrénées

Established by the Law on Guidance for the Planning and Development of the Territory (L.O.A.D.T., known as the Pasqua Law) of 4 February 1995 the concept of a country has been specified in the Law on Guidance for the Planning and Sustainable Development of the Territory (L.O.A.D.D.T. No. 99-533 known as the Voynet Law) of 25 June 1999 and its implementing decree (Decree No. 2000-909 of 19/09/2000) A country, within the meaning of the Act of 4 February 1995, is a territory with geographical, cultural, economic or social coherence. The law of 25 June 1999 makes the country a real project territory, based on local will. The country is thus a project space for which public and private actors build from local potential a sustainable development project. On the basis of the delimitation of a study area agreed by the Prefect of the Region, a development council is set up to draw up a charter of sustainable development of the country and formulate an opinion on any question of spatial planning of the country. Subsequently, a management structure is set up, the country’s managing body, which translates the guidelines of the charter into an action programme, the country contract. The country’s legislative basis was repealed by the RCT Act of 16 December 2010 on intercommunality.The country no longer exists as a legal object. As a result, it is no longer possible for the Prefect of the Region to issue reconnaissance orders or changes to the perimeter of countries, as was the case before. For the existing countries, the applicable legal regime is that of their supporting structure: for example, in the case of a mixed trade union, it is up to the Prefect of the department concerned to make changes in its composition (which entailing a change in the perimeter). Countries can intersect several regions, this layer has been cut according to the boundaries of region R73.