A centralising neo-liberalism. Local authorities in the liberalisation of the French electricity system ; Un néo-libéralisme centralisateur. Les collectivités locales dans la libéralisation du système électrique français

Abstract

National audience The opening up of the French electricity market to competition now raises many questions about the role that public authorities will occupy in the future institutional landscape. While most of the work questions the way in which the State learns about its new regulatory functions, this article looks at the territorial dimension of the current recompositions. He explained what was at stake in the transformation from the point of view of relations between the State and local authorities, which had the status of granting authorities for the distribution of electricity. It shows that, while neo-liberalism calls into question the centralised nature of the organisation of the sector, it does not mean political decentralisation. For the time being, on the contrary, the new public policy framework limits local government to a secondary role, complementary to that of the State and the Community bodies. ; Deregulation of French electrical market raises many questions about the role played by the State in a system based on economic competition. While most of researches deal with the way State agencies face the rise of European actors or new economic operators, this article focuses on the territorial dimension of change. It reminds what was at stake in the recent transformations of EDF, as regards the relations between State - whose role has been central for the last five decades - and local authorities, that are legally responsible of electricity supply. This article shows that, in this sector, neo-liberalism did not lead to decentralization, even if it put into question the French technically and economically centralized system. In the new model, the State remains the central actor in the regulation, in comparison with local authorities, that occupy secondary functions. ; National audience The opening up of the French electricity market to competition now raises many questions about the role that public authorities will occupy in the future institutional landscape. While most of the work questions the ...