Key Benefits:
(GUYANCOURT COMMON)
The Constitutional Council was entered on 2 April 2014 by the Council of State (Decision No 374873 of 1 April 2014), under the conditions laid down in Article 61-1 of the Constitution, of a Priority question of constitutionality posed by the municipality of Guyancourt, relating to the conformity with the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the b of 2 ° of paragraph II of Article L. 2531-13 of the General Code of Territorial Communities.
The Constitutional Council,
Given the Constitution;
SeenOrder No. 58-1067 of 7 November 1958 amended by the Organic Law on the Constitutional Council;
Given the General Code of Territorial Communities ;
Seen Law n ° 2011-1977 of December 28, 2011 of finance for 2012;
Due to Law n ° 2012-354 of 14 March 2012 of amending finance for 2012;
Seen Law n ° 2012-1509 of December 29, 2012 of finance for 2013;
Seen the Law n ° 2013-1278 of December 29 2013 of finance for 2014;
In view of the regulation of 4 February 2010 on the procedure followed before the Constitutional Council on priority constitutionality issues;
In view of the observations submitted by Me for the applicant municipality Manuel Delamarre, lawyer to the Conseil d' Etat and the Court of Cassation, and CPC Goutal Alibert et Associés, lawyer at the Paris Bar registered on 23 April 2014;
Seen the observations filed by the Prime Minister, registered on 24 April 2014;
Seen the documents produced and attached to the file ;
Me Yvon Goutal, a lawyer at the Paris Bar, and Xavier Pottier, appointed by the Prime Minister, having been heard at the public hearing on 20 May 2014;
The rapporteur was heard;
1. Considering that L. 2531-13 of the General Code of Local and Regional Authorities Article L. 2531-13) defines the terms and conditions According to which the communes of the region of Ile-de-France contribute to the solidarity fund of the communes of the region of Ile-de-France; that, in particular, the 2 ° of that same paragraph, in its writing from the section 145 of the Act of December 28, 2011, above, establishes mechanisms for capping the resources of municipalities; By virtue of the b of this 2 °, this levy " Cannot exceed 120 % in 2012, 130 % in 2013, 140 % in 2014 and, as of 2015, 150 % of the amount of the levy for the year 2009 in accordance with Article L. 2531-13 in its drafting effective as of 31 December 2009. ; that the effect ofArticle 134 of the aforementioned Law of 29 December 2013 has been to amend the references to this provision, which appears Changed to b of 3 ° of paragraph II of article L. 2531-13 of the general code of local authorities ;
2. Whereas, according to the applicant, By providing for a ceiling on the levy in favour of the solidarity fund of the communes of the region of Ile-de-France for the benefit of the communes having contributed to this fund in 2009, the contested provisions disregard the principle of equality before Public expenses; that the legislature would have instituted without any limitation of duration a difference of unjustified treatment between the communes according to whether they were contributory to the fund in 2009; that the criterion of distinction retained by The legislator would not be rational with regard to the objective pursued;
3. Considering that Article 13 of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen states: For the maintenance of the public force, and for administrative expenditure, a common contribution is essential: it must also be allocated among all citizens, because of their faculties'. ; in particular, in order to ensure respect for the principle of equality, the legislator must base its assessment on objective and rational criteria according to the aims it proposes; that this assessment should not, however, lead to A marked breakdown of equality before public office;
4. Whereas in accordance with the first paragraph of Article L. 2531-12 of the General Code of Local and Regional Authorities, the Solidarity of the communes of the region of Ile-de-France is intended to contribute " The improvement of living conditions in the urban communes of Ile-de-France supporting specific burdens in the light of the social needs of their population without having sufficient tax resources " ; that the first paragraph of paragraph I of Article L. 2531-13 of the same Code, as drawn up by the Act of 28 December 2011 referred to above, provides that " The resources of the solidarity fund of the communes of the Ile-de-France region in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 are set, respectively, at 210, 230, 250 and 270 million euros " ; that the legislator did not set the amount of the fund's resources from the year 2016;
5. Taking the view that, by the contested provisions, the legislator introduced a scheme for limiting the growth of the levy on municipal resources under the solidarity fund of the communes of the region of Ile-de-France applicable The only communes contributing to this fund in 2009, which the legislator has thus heard to limit the consequences of the gradual increase in the amounts taken from the fund between 2012 and 2015 and retain as reference year the last Year preceding the reform of the professional tax, which was Consequence of changes in the parameters for the calculation of levies in favour of the fund; that, at the same time, the law of 28 December 2011 referred to above also introduced A scheme providing for a division by two of the levy for the communes contributing to the fund for the first time; that it has finally introduced a rule applicable to all the municipalities contributing to the fund prohibiting the levy May exceed a fraction of the actual operating expenses Laid down by the municipality during the penultimate year; that the Act of 14 March 2012 referred to above introduced a mechanism limiting, for the year 2012, the levying of Which are also beneficiaries of the funds in the amount of the allocation they receive; that the law of 29 December 2012 referred to above provided that the municipalities which Benefited from the latter provision in 2012 would Cut down by 50 % in 2013 and 25 % in 2014; that it also provided for the cancellation of the levy by the municipalities classified in the previous year as one of the one hundred and fifty first communes classified under the Urban solidarity according to the summary index of resources and charges; finally, the Act of 29 December 2013 referred to above has, in particular, capped the growth of the Collection in the municipalities where this levy increases by more than 25 % compared to The previous year half of the difference between the levy and 125 % of the previous year's levy;
6. Considering that the legislature reserved only the communes contributing in 2009 the benefit of the system of ceilings for the growth of the collection of communes in the solidarity fund of the communes of the Ile-de-France region established by the Contested provisions; that the difference of treatment thus instituted between the municipalities is based solely on the date on which they began to contribute to the fund; that, if it was permissible for the legislature to provide, as a transitional measure, in The framework for the implementation of the new contribution cap rules Of the municipalities, a specific scheme reserved for the sole contributors in 2009, it could not, in the light of the purpose of this fund, allow such a difference in treatment to survive without a serious infringement. Equality before public office between the municipalities contributing to the fund; that, as a result, the contested provisions disregard the principle of equality before public office; that the b of 2 °, which has become 3 °, of section II of article L. 2531-13 of the general code of local authorities must be declared unconstitutional ;
7. Considering that under the second paragraph of Article 62 of the Constitution: A provision declared unconstitutional on the basis of Article 61-1 shall be repealed from the publication of the decision of the Constitutional Council or a later date fixed by that decision. The Constitutional Council shall determine the conditions and limits in which the effects of the disposition may be called into question." ; if, in principle, the declaration of unconstitutionality must benefit the author of the priority question of constitutionality and the provision declared contrary to the Constitution cannot be applied in the proceedings in progress on the date Of the publication of the decision of the Constitutional Council, the provisions of Article 62 of the Constitution reserve the power of the latter to fix the date of the repeal and carry forward its effects in time only to provide for the questioning The effect of the disposition before the intervention of that return;
8. Considering that a declaration of unconstitutionality which would have the effect of imposing a review of the amount of levies operated under the solidarity fund of the communes of the Ile-de-France region to all municipalities Contributions for the current year and past years would have manifestly excessive consequences; that, therefore, the date of this repeal should be postponed to 1 January 2015; that the amounts taken from the Solidarity Fund Communes of the region of Ile-de-France for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 cannot be Contested on the basis of this unconstitutionality,
Decides:
Declaration Of the unconstitutionality of Article 1 takes effect under the conditions laid down in recital 8.
This decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic and notified under the conditions set out in The order of 7 November 1958 referred to above.
Issued by the Constitutional Council at its meeting on 5 June 2014, attended by Mr Jean-Louis DEBRÉ, President, Mr Jacques BARROT, Mrs Claire BAZY MALAURIE, Nicole BELLOUBET, MM. Guy CANIVET, Michel CHARASSE, Renaud DENOIX de SAINT MARC, Hubert HAENEL, and Nicole MAESTRACCI.
Public Render on June 6, 2014.
The President,
Jean-Louis Debré
