Abstract:

Municipalities, as a constitutional organization, are local government bodies established to provide local and common services within national borders. The importance and function of local governments are increasing with the localization trend. Turks are one of the most rooted nations in terms of state tradition throughout history. As is the case worldwide, the effectiveness of the central state was considered important in the early days. Building on the experiences of the Seljuk and Ottoman states, the importance of municipalities in Türkiye has gradually increased and they have become the "school of democracy" with the effect of the localization trend. Türkiye and France, which have a unitary state tradition, also share many similarities. France reorganized its entire state structure after the French Revolution in 1789, which affected the whole world in waves. As a unitary state with a deep-rooted state tradition, France has a special place among public administration traditions. In France, the localization efforts that started with the 5th Republic Period in 1982 gradually increased with the “European Charter of Local Self-Government” in 1985. The “European Charter of Local Self-Government” has led to significant reforms in many states with centralized state structures in order to improve local governments and local democracy. Many powers of the central government have been transferred to local governments. As member states of the “Council of Europe”, Türkiye and France have ratified and implemented the “European Charter of Local Self-Government” despite some reservations. Local government units in Türkiye are classified as municipalities, special provincial administrations ( in non-metropolitan provinces) and villages. However, municipalities are the most important local government units in terms of the population under their responsibility. As of 1984, metropolitan municipalities were established for metropolitan cities and today their numbers have reached 30. The aim of this study is to compare the personnel structure of municipalities in Türkiye and France. In line with this purpose, the legislation and literature on the personnel structure of French and Turkish municipalities were reviewed. Therefore, this study is shaped by content analysis method. At the beginning of the study, the conceptual framework on local governments and municipalities is summarized and the issues related to municipal personnel in Türkiye and France, which constitute the focus of the study, are presented. By providing information about the organs of the municipalities which their powers, duties, privileges and personnel structures; developments regarding the personnel policies at the local governments in both countries have been compared. Significant differences were observed between the two countries in terms of different preferences in personnel policy, types of employment, differences in the formation and number of municipalities, mergers and the results of decentralization practices. In France, a municipality is established in the smallest settlement regardless of its population, whereas in Türkiye, the criteria for establishing a municipality are based on population and distance and municipalities are established in settlements with a population over 5,000 and within 5,000 meters of the center. While 4.9% of the total public personnel work in local governments in Turkey, in France 34.5% of all public personnel work in local governments. In France, the creation and cancellation of municipal staff positions is a task left to the parliament. In Türkiye, since 2005, the authority over municipal staffing has been delegated to municipal councils within the framework of standards set by the central government. Local government personnel in Türkiye are employed as civil servants, contracted personnel and laborers. Municipalities recruit 73% of their staff from municipal companies called Municipal Economic Enterprises (MIEs). The promotion conditions for personnel recruited from ICTs are not specified, while public employees can be promoted through promotion exams organized by the central government. The qualifications of local government staff in France are as follows: civil servants (corps), authorized position (general secretary and deputy general secretaries), part-time staff, and temporary staff. The corps provided local government employees with a single career, although it allowed for relocation. In some cases, the central government can take away the powers of a local government employee in an authorized position. The findings of the study show that although there are some similarities in the municipal personnel structure of Türkiye and France, there are more differences.

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