Meet the maire

Moving to France? Make friends with your new mayor and find out all that’s good about local government, says Julie Savill

- Julie Savill

You’ve almost certainly been advised to go and meet your maire, whether you are a full-time mover or a second homer, but do you know why?

It’s polite, of course. The maire is at the centre of village or country life and chances are he, or she, will have heard about you long before you rock up on the doorstep.

But the maire is also the decision-maker and policy former on a whole mass of local issues, as well as being a good starting point if there is something you need to know or need help with. Every town or village has a maire, working from a mairie, and there are over 35,000 currently in mainland France. The maire is supported by one or more deputy mayors (adjoints), elected councillors (conseillers municipaux), and together they are known as the Conseil Municipal.

If you move to a town, you are less likely to have direct contact with the maire (they’ll have a sizeable team) but in rural areas it’s often just the maire and a secretary in the office so you can book a one-toone appointment.

Go along, introduce yourself (in French if at all possible) and make it known that you are happy to be there and are going to be an active part of the local community. There’s no need to take a gift and the meeting could be quite brief, especially if your French is limited.

Don’t worry if you are in and out in five minutes – you’ve shown up, shown willing and you’ll be remembered!

MONEY, MONEY