The Common Weal and Contact Democracy (Démocratie de Proximité)

Abstract

The author holds that traditionally any recourse to compulsory purchase can only justify itself in terms on
an appeal to the requirements of the Common Weal, this being traditionally the only valid argument open
to the powers-that-be against the sacred and inviolable rights of private real estate ownership. It is also
traditionally held that the grounds for any such purchase must be established and, were this to be necessary,
justified by said powers and only these in Law. The articles of the Law of «Démocratie de proximité» 27/02/2002
in no way alter this state if affairs unless it be in a minor shift in the sense hitherto given to what is or is
not the Common Weal. Under the pressure of the ever wider all for the defence of the environment there is
an explicit recognition of the right of citizen participation in this issue and a broadening of the competencies
of the National Commission to convoke public debate here and thus strengthen a general perception of a greater
transparency in the choices to be made for any initiatives touching upon this sensitive area. Otherwise, the
wish of locally elected representatives to control process that as often as not still escapes their control has
led to a re-regularization of the filling for projects process a modifying of the grounds for any alleging of public
utility. The author makes plain that none of these measures could be in any way considered far-reaching.