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In France, a prefecture (french: préfecture) may be:
* the ''chef-lieu de département'', the commune in which the administration of a
In France, a prefecture (french: préfecture) may be:
* the ''chef-lieu de département'', the commune in which the administration of a department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
is located;
* the ''chef-lieu de région'', the commune in which the administration of a region is located;
* the jurisdiction of a prefecture;
* the official residence or headquarters of a prefect.
Although the administration of departments and regions is distinct, a regional prefect is ''ex officio
An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...
'' prefect of the department in which the regional prefecture is located. The officeholder has authority upon the other prefects in the region on a range of matters.
Role of the prefecture
There are 101 prefectures in France, one for each department. The official in charge is the prefect (french: préfet). The prefecture is an administration that belongs to the Ministry of the Interior; it is therefore in charge of the delivery of identity cards, driving licenses, passports, residency and work permits for foreigners, vehicle registration, registration of associations (creation, status modification, dissolution), as well as of the management of the National Police andfirefighter
A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...
s, although as of 2018, 79% of firefighters in France are part-time volunteers.
Prefectures are usually located near the geographic centre of their departments; they were originally chosen for being within a day's travel on horseback from anywhere in the department. Therefore, the largest settlement in a department may not always be its prefecture: the department of Marne Marne can refer to:
Places France
*Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine
*Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river
* La Marne, a commune in western France
*Marne, a legislative constituency (France)
Nethe ...
, for example, has its prefecture at Châlons-en-Champagne despite the city of Reims
Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne.
Founded by ...
, near the Aisne
Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.departmental council (french: Conseil départemental), which is elected through a system of
There is an exception in Paris in the ÃŽle-de-France region and its three surrounding departments, known as the Petite Couronne ("Small Crown"):
cantons
A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, t ...
. It is in charge of the building and maintenance of middle schools (''collèges'') and departmental roads, financial assistance to dependent people (disabled and elderly), as well as promotion of local economic development, amongst other matters. In the past, the prefect was head of the department, but since 1982, the President of the Departmental Council
In France, the President of the Departmental Council ( French: ''Président du Conseil départemental'') is the locally elected head of the departmental council, the assembly governing a department in France. The position is elected by the depar ...
has assumed the role of chief executive of the department.
Parisian exception
There is an exception in Paris in the ÃŽle-de-France region and its three surrounding departments, known as the Petite Couronne ("Small Crown"): Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a Departments of France, département in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner Banlieue, suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the e ...
to the west, Seine-Saint-Denis to the northeast and Val-de-Marne to the southeast. These departments are administered by an additional separate unitary prefecture for law enforcement and security purposes, a Prefecture of Police In France, a Prefecture of Police (french: Préfecture de police), headed by the Prefect of Police (''Préfet de police''), is an agency of the Government of France under the administration of the Ministry of the Interior. Part of the National Pol ...
(french: préfecture de police), known as the Paris Police Prefecture, a situation inherited from the Paris Commune of 1871. The power of law enforcement is usually invested in the mayor in other communes. This power is held by the Prefect of Police of Paris in the Petite Couronne.
In 2012, a similar structure was established in Bouches-du-Rhône, the Bouches-du-Rhône Police Prefecture, headed by the Prefect of Police of Bouches-du-Rhône, although it is formally less independent than that of Paris.
Divisions of departments
Departments are divided intoarrondissements
An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands.
Europe
France
The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements'', ...
, themselves divided into cantons
A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, t ...
. The ''chef-lieu d'arrondissement'' is the subprefecture (french: sous-préfecture). The official in charge is the subprefect
A subprefect is a high government official in several countries, such as Brazil and France.
In Brazil, a subprefect (''subprefeito'') is the highest official of a subprefecture, which is a subdivision of certain large municipalities (São Paulo, ...
(french: sous-préfet). There are relatively few competences associated to cantons, the most important one being the local organisation of elections, as cantons are electoral subdivisions.
See also
* Administrative divisions of France * Departments of France * Regions of France *Subprefectures in France
In France, a subprefecture (french: sous-préfecture) is the commune which is the administrative centre of a departmental arrondissement that does not contain the prefecture for its department. The term also applies to the building that houses ...
* National Police (France)
References
{{Prefectures of French departments Government of France af:Prefektuur ca:Prefectura da:Præfektur es:Prefectura eo:Prefektejo eu:Prefektura fr:Organisation_territoriale_de_la_France gl:Prefectura id:Prefektur la:Praefectura oc:Prefectura pt:Prefeitura