Jean-Pierre Chevènement (French: [ʒɑ̃ pjɛʁ ʃəvɛnmɑ̃]; born 9 March 1939) is a French politician who served as a minister in the 1980s and 1990s best known for his candidacy in the 2002 French presidential election. After serving as mayor of Belfort, he was elected to the Senate for the Territoire de Belfort in 2008. As a cofounder of the Socialist Party (PS) and founder of the Citizen and Republican Movement (MRC), he is a significant figure of the French Left.
The Citizen and Republican Movement (French: Mouvement républicain et citoyen) is a left-wing political party in France. The party replaced the Citizens' Movement (Mouvement des citoyens, MDC) in 2002. The previous party was founded by Jean-Pierre Chevènement, who left the Socialist Party (PS) in 1993 due to his opposition to the Gulf War and to the Maastricht Treaty. It is a Eurosceptic and sovereigntist party that strongly opposes European integration and promotes the "multipolar order" instead; the party argues that the United States of America holds a hegemonic position over the international markets and relations, and seeks to replace that with an order where no major power would dominate. The party criticizes the European Union for its capitalist policies, and is completely opposed to proposals to centralize or federalize the European Union.
Despite being a split from it, the party cooperates with the Socialist Party and usually shares the electoral lists with it. The party partakes in "popular fronts", actively seeking ties and alliances with fellow left-wing parties. It has links to far-left parties that are against the European Union and NATO; it also cooperates with moderate "broad left" parties in France. In 2019, the party took part in the creation of the Republican and Socialist Left (GRS) by joining forces with the Alternative for a Republican, Ecologist and Socialist Program (APRÉS), created by Marie-Noëlle Lienemann and Emmanuel Maurel after their departure from the Socialist Party, but without merging.
Communauté urbaine (French pronunciation: [kɔmynote yʁbɛn] ; French for "urban community") is the second most integrated form of intercommunality in France, after the Metropolis (French: métropole). A communauté urbaine is composed of a city (commune) and its independent suburbs (independent communes).
The first communautés urbaines were created by the French Parliament on 31 December 1966. Originally there were only four, found in the metropolitan areas of Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon and Strasbourg. Later, others were created in other metropolitan areas. The purpose of the communautés urbaines was to achieve cooperation and joint administration between large cities and their independent suburbs. This step often followed failed attempts to merge the communes within a metropolitan area. The status of the communauté urbaine was modified by the Chevènement Law of 1999. Since the creation of the métropoles in 2011, several former communautés urbaines have become métropoles, for instance Nice, Strasbourg, Marseille, Nancy and Dijon.
An agglomeration community (French: communauté d'agglomération, pronounced [kɔmynote daɡlɔmeʁasjɔ̃]) is a consortium of communes (municipalities) in France, created as a government structure by the Chevènement Law of 1999. It is one of four forms of intercommunality, less integrated than a métropole or a communauté urbaine but more integrated than a communauté de communes. Agglomeration communities consist of a commune of at least 15,000 inhabitants (or a prefecture with less than 15,000 inhabitants) and its independent suburbs.
As of January 2025, there are 230 agglomeration communities in France (214 in metropolitan France and 16 in the overseas departments). The population (as of 2022) of the agglomeration communities ranges from 364,744 inhabitants (CA Roissy Pays de France) to 28,318 inhabitants (CA Grand Verdun).
An agglomeration community (French: communauté d'agglomération, pronounced [kɔmynote daɡlɔmeʁasjɔ̃]) is a consortium of communes (municipalities) in France, created as a government structure by the Chevènement Law of 1999. It is one of four forms of an intercommunal structure with fiscal power, less integrated than a métropole or a communauté urbaine but more integrated than a communauté de communes. Agglomeration communities must consist of a contiguous grouping of communes with a total population of at least 50,000, including a central commune with at least 15,000 inhabitants. In the case of an agglomeration community that includes a prefecture, the 50,000 threshold is reduced to 30,000 and the 15,000 threshold does not apply.
As of January 2025, there are 230 agglomeration communities in France (214 in metropolitan France and 16 in the overseas departments). The population (as of 2022) of the agglomeration communities ranges from 28,318 inhabitants (CA Grand Verdun) to 364,744 inhabitants (CA Roissy Pays de France).