GEMAPI: Local elected officials are calling for a stronger commitment from the State and adequate funding.

A transfer of skills without sufficient resources

Intermunicipal authorities have been entrusted with the responsibility for "management of aquatic environments and flood prevention" (GEMAPI) since 2018, but without the necessary financial and technical resources. The transfer of state-owned dikes in January 2024 particularly illustrated this problem: carried out hastily, it was done without a precise inventory of the structures or an assessment of their condition, and with insufficient financial resources.

Faced with worsening climate risks, local elected officials reiterate that the safety of people and property throughout the national territory is the responsibility of the State. They therefore call for a strengthened and sustained commitment from it.

Associations of elected officials have formulated five priority proposals:

• Putting an end to implicit transfers of responsibility: rejecting any expansion of the scope of the GEMAPI competence, in particular by integrating the management of runoff water, which would constitute a new implicit transfer of responsibility from the State to local authorities and would call into question the balances found at the local level.
• Preserving financial balance: opposing any change to the GEMAPI tax to finance coastal development, which would amount to making residents and businesses in these areas bear costs disproportionate to available resources.
• Maintaining the freedom of local authorities to manage: preserving the current flexibility in the ways in which the GEMAPI competence is exercised.
• Ensuring national solidarity: guaranteeing technical support from the State to local authorities to assume the exercise of this complex competence and ensuring that the enhanced contributions from the Barnier Fund for bringing all protection works into compliance are maintained at least until 2040 to allow managers to fulfill their obligations.
• To sustain and expand the amount of the Barnier fund: to request that the CATNAT surcharge of insurance contracts be entirely dedicated to the prevention of natural risks.

For a concerted national approach

Local elected officials are calling for the reopening of a constructive dialogue with the national government to jointly rethink the GEMAPI (Water Management and Flood Prevention) framework. Flood prevention and the management of aquatic environments are major challenges that require a coordinated and collaborative approach at the national level. Faced with the climate emergency and increased risks, strengthened collaboration between the national government and local authorities is essential to guarantee the safety of everyone.

Find the joint contribution

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.