Two municipalities in Marne have decided to merge. According to France 3, the villages of Saint-Hilaire au Temple (318 inhabitants) and Dampierre-au-Temple (272 inhabitants) will form one on January 1, 2025.
In France, at the start of 2024, there were 34,495 (for 68.17 million inhabitants) compared to only 11,000 in Germany or 8,000 in Spain. Half of the municipalities in France have fewer than 500 inhabitants. In order to reduce costs and pool services, a reduction in the number of villages would therefore be welcome.
The “new commune”, a solution for the future
Since December 16, 2019, a law allows the creation of new municipalities. In a few years, 787 municipalities were created and 2,356 merged. Thanks to these changes, France has fallen below 35,000 municipalities (-5% since 2010). The Grand-Est region, with 5,136 municipalities, 91% of which have fewer than 2,000 inhabitants, is the one with the most municipalities in France.
In the Marne, Dampierre-au-Temple and Saint-Hilaire-au-Temple will merge although the project was already on the table in the 1980s, and in 2017. For the mayor of Dampierre-au-Temple, the decision This is done naturally, because the two villages already share “a town hall secretary, the cleaning lady, the school group, associations and a library. » The new municipality will be called Neuville-au-Temple, following the vote of the inhabitants, and the two mayors will work hand in hand.
France
