An Algerian-French Intergovernmental Committee 3rd meet in Paris : Balance Sheet and Outlook?
French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Algeria last Wednesday is seen by many as a step towards the future and turn the page on the colonial past for good. It is in this spirit that an Algerian-French Intergovernmental Committee 3rd meet in Paris was arranged so as to look at the Balance Sheet and Outlook to date in the special relationship between the two countries..
This brief contribution would be no different from and could even be a synthesis of two interviews of mine given to the Ennahar TV and Beur TV following this intergovernmental Committee meeting that was held in Paris on December 7, 2017.
Franco-Algerian relations have undergone a new dynamic in recent years, notably since the visit of the President Bouteflika, in 2000, to France and that of President Holland to Algeria in 2012. It is in this framework, that a 3rd session of the High-level Intergovernmental Committee was held in Paris under the joint chairmanship of the Prime Ministers, Ahmed Ouyahia, and his French counterpart, Edouard Philippe. This Committee’s foundation is the strengthening of the economic partnership and the identification of new investment prospects as a pilot instrument of the exceptional relationship between the two countries. It was established on the official visit to Algeria in December 2012 of President Holland, with the first session being held in Algiers in December 2013, resulting in nine cooperation agreements. The 2nd session took place in Paris in December 2014.
More recently and according to the Algerian Press Service as of the end of the day of December 7, 2017, both parties concluded eleven agreements in sectors of the strategic sectors of the economy, higher education, vocational training, health, SMEs and Culture.
A declaration of intent was signed by the PSA-Peugeot Group, by the Algerian Ministry of Education and vocational training and the French counterpart, which established a training centre in Oran for the professions in the automotive industry. Various other agreements in higher education, in particular the creation of a mixed network of high-schools, with amongst its members ae 16 Algerian national schools, 15 Algerian preparatory schools and 7 French engineering schools.
Two other agreements in the field of health have been signed. This is a memorandum of understanding between the SANOFI-Pasteur group and the SAIDAL for the production of vaccines and an agreement for the production of oncology and family health products in Algeria by the IPSEN laboratory as well as an agreement for the promotion of the SMEs.
Further intergovernmental visits are planned to prepare the state visit to be carried out by President Emmanuel Macron in 2018. This is a continuation of the holding in Algiers of the fourth meeting of the Franco-Algerian Economic Joint Committee (COMEFA), on the one hand, and the day after the visit of the French President, Emmanuel Macron in Algeria, for friendship as well as for work.
However, these exchanges are to be replaced in their own contextual dynamics. For 2016 the value imports exports Algeria France dids not exceed $8 billion. However, Algeria’s imports were $46 billion million and $29 billion for exports of which 95% made of hydrocarbons. Total imports/exports were $75 billion excluding services that Algeria imported in 2016 for more than $10 billion, giving a total of goods and services imports/exports of approximately $85 billion.
With reference to the international trade, in 2016, the countries of the European Union are still the main partners of Algeria (47.47% of imports and 57.95% of exports). The main customer is Italy, with more than 16.55% of sales, followed by Spain at 12.33% and France has only 11.05%.
For the main suppliers, France ranks first in the EU countries with 10.15%, followed by Italy and Spain, with 9.93% and 7.69% of total imports respectively.
The first five customers of Algeria, during the first seven months of 2017, were Italy with $3.5 billion (16.9% of the Algerian global exports), followed by France with $2.60 billion (12.55%), Spain with $2.32 billion (11.23%), United States with $2.09 billion (10.11%) and Brazil’s $1.39 billion (6.74%).
As for the main suppliers of Algeria, China is still at the forefront with $5.21 billion (19.40% of Algerian global imports), followed by France with $2.35 billion (8.77%), Italy with $1.98 billion (7.37%), Germany with $1.84 billion (6.85%) and the Spain with $1.75 billion (6.53%).
According to the data of the embassy, France is however the first non-hydrocarbon investor and the first foreign employer in Algeria, representing 40,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs, for about 500 companies, including thirty large companies. Thus, after the visit to Algeria, the French President went to Qatar where he signed contracts of nearly $13 billion on December 7, 2017
So, while respecting the sovereign decision of Algeria, the wish of the French President in his conference in Algiers on December 6, 2017 is in favor of a relaxation of the 49/51% rule that dates back to the Ouyahia government of 2009, which is not introduced into the new investment code and to be defined in the finance statutes in accordance with the Government’s policy. I recall that since 2010, I have proposed to the Algerian Government to stick to the technological balance and in positive currencies, to make its balance sheet, to apply it to the strategic segments that need to be precisely defined and to apply a blocking minority of 30% for the other segments in particular for the SMEs.
Exchanges between Algeria and France which are essentially limited to hydrocarbons for the Algerian side, to services, banking, agri-food, pharmaceuticals and products from the automotive industry for The French part can be empowered in the context of mutual respect. But care would be to limit the economic factors; i.e. it would be like to point out beforehand that there is a dialectic link between security and development, hence the importance of a win/win partnership based on co-development. It goes without saying any destabilization of Algeria’ could directly and / or indirectly lead to the instability of the Mediterranean and North African region and only an impetus of development would therefore warrant a definite stability of the region.
The oil price of more than $60, was certainly not only helped by the approaching winter but also by the relative decline of the Dollar value against the Euro, thus giving a timid stimulus to the growth of the global economy. It was in fact driven by fear of what is going on in the Middle East, rather than because of all those growing OPEC’s inventory reports. So, it is those persistent tensions in Iraq, those of Saudi Arabia’s internal turmoil’s and those to do with the U.S. president’s statement vis-à-vis Iran’s agreement together with those reassuring statements of compliance with the Vienna Agreement by the two major producers Russia and Saudi Arabia, and finally the planned sale of up to 5% of ARAMCO Saudi Arabia’s state oil producer. On November 30th, 2017 OPEC Meeting in Vienna would certainly have been looking critically at the current rise in oil prices together with ways as to how maintain and eventually raise it further. In any case, the oil price seem to be determined by eight number of influencing factors to be wary of in the medium and long term in order to avoid surprises especially for the countries with rentier economies.
In accordance with most analysts’ forecasts, the OPEC and several non-cartel countries agreed to extend the current production reduction agreement for a period of nine months, until the end of the 2018.
However, and in accordance with Russia’s requirements, the cartel has suggested that it could break the agreement sooner than expected in case of the market overheating.
The determinants of the oil price
First, the central element in determining the price of the Oil is the growth of the global economy, particularly China’s, including its energy structure during the 2020 through 2030.
Secondly, on the supply side, we are witnessing a faster than expected increase in the production of (unconventional) oil from the USA that is disrupting the entire global energetic map. During the first half of 2017, crude production increased significantly and would exceed overall 9.5 million barrels per day.
Thirdly, the OPEC-level rivalries, some of which do not respect quotas. Saudi Arabia is the only producing country in the world that is currently able to weigh on the global supply, and therefore on prices, depending on some agreement between the USA, (the latter not being affected by the) The Agreements (OPEC/non-OPEC), and Saudi Arabia to determine the floor price.
4th, all this is a result of Russia’s measured support for a price regulation agreement. Recently, Russia has increased its production, and opened new deposits in Siberia or in the Arctic, demonstrating an aggressive strategy.
5th, the return to the market of Libya that can easily add up to 2 million barrels/day, and of Iraq with 3.7 million barrels/day (world reservoir at a production cost of less than 20% compared to its competitors) that can go to more than 6/7 million barrels/day. Iran after its nuclear agreement with reserves of 160 billion barrels of oil would allow it to easily export between 5/6 million barrels/day apart from having the second traditional gas reserves of more than 34 trillion cubic meters.
6th, the new discoveries, especially offshore, particularly in the eastern Mediterranean (20 trillion cubic meters of gas, partly explaining the tensions in this region) and in Africa, of which Mozambique could be the third reserves holder. New technologies allow the exploitation and reduction of the costs of the marginal deposits of gas and shale oil.
7th, the USA/Europe which currently represents more than 40% of the world’s GDP for a population of less than one billion people are pushing for energy efficiency with a reduction forecast of 30% and the urgency of moving towards an energy transition to fight against global warming because if the Chinese, the Indians and the Africans had the same model of energy consumption as the US and Europe it would take five times the current planet. China according to the Reuters agency of September 2017, has just indicated that it will reduce by 50% its fleet of cars running on diesel and petrol fuel by 2020. The global strategy should be based on efforts to limit the use of fossil fuels, the world moving towards an Energy Mix. The future that is at horizon 2030/2040 would be hydrogen where development research is experiencing a real boom.
8th, the evolution of the Dollar’s and Euro exchange values in which any increase in one or the other, although there is no linear correlation, could lead to a drop in the price of the barrel, as well as the American inventories and often forgotten the Chinese stocks.
OPEC in the face of the Vienna accords
OPEC deal extended through 2018 would mean the deal will run from January through to December, and the exact volumes of the production cuts will be the same as this year. The OPEC/non-OPEC coalition said that they would monitor market conditions and would remain “agile,” ready to respond if the fundamentals were to significantly change. They will nevertheless revisit the agreement at the next official meeting in June 2018.
One assurance is that Libya and Nigeria agreed to cap their production levels, thus preventing any “surprise.”
Meanwhile all smiles were from Vienna on the faces of the US Shale producers who were somehow comforted in their endeavours for more production with an ever-decreasing range of costs.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, out of the Electoral Corps of 22,883,772 of registrants, the participation rate reached 44.96% for the elections of the Assemblies of Prefectures (APW) and 46.83% for the communal assemblies (APC), giving a slight increase in relation to the participation rate in the local elections of 2012 (40.92% for APW and 44.26% for APC). The votes cast are in the order of 10,140,000 for the APW and 10.5 million voters for the APC. The number of blank ballots is 1.8 million in the election of APC and 1,080,000 for APW, although important, a relative decrease from to the numbers of voters compared to previous elections. The lessons of the Algerian local elections are not only to be learned by the Algerians themselves but to also be meditated by all in the MENA region.
As put by Zawya’s latest article, Algeria‘s ruling parties retained their majority in local elections, taking more than 50 percent of the vote, the interior minister said on Friday. Participation is closely watched by officials as they attempt to reverse a trend of increasing political apathy. More than half of Algeria’s population are under 30 and many feel disconnected from the ageing elite which runs the country.
Are there any lessons to be learned? Yes and these number eight as follows:
First, the process of the elections went generally in a quiet, except for a few isolated cases atmosphere. It must be recognized as a better participation in relation to past local elections including that of the Legislatives of May 4th, 2017; citizens having certainly been more attentive to the local personalities they know.
Second, this can be an indication for the forthcoming presidential elections of April 2019. Meanwhile, we have a good outfit of the FLN party as first political force that is far ahead of the RND whether forr the APCs or the APW. There were some breakthrough of a young party and a notable regression of the so-called Islamic parties.
Third, the constituted bodies such as the armed forces that had been targeted, by some parties through the press and television, information taken over by the international media, claiming it to be wrong or right and that these would have contributed to the jam of the ballot boxes and it would be better to preserve these strategic institutions off any political turmoil, while recognizing its members with the right to vote freely.
4th, because of the voting mode, eliminating small parties; it would be desirable to have a proportional system. With this method of voting for decades we have results that do not reflect the real picture of society, giving the same political component for years that does not translate the social reality.
5th, we witnessed a dull election campaign with promises without a tomorrow knowing that the local elected officials have little or no real power of decision. This reflects a significant demobilization of the population, which is more accentuated for the youth, reflecting the lack of confidence between the state and the citizen. And the big problem is how to restore that confidence. Hence the urgency to revise the codes of prefectures in order to involve and empower local elected officials by a real decentralization and overall functioning of both the political and economic system. Indeed, a considerable political training background has surfaced, often without a real program or serious prospects, which is mainly manifested on the occasion of electoral appointments as a result of the current State subsidies.
6th, an intellectual and above all moral level of those who will have to legislate and manage communes would be required as a minimum. Why not require, because of the obvious low and doubtful levels of some of the candidates, that in the future a minimum of university curricula and clearance by justice should be attained prior to be eligible?
7th, is about reorganizing on democratic foundations all civil society by putting In place effective intermediary networks between the state and the citizen referring to a real political decentralization and a change of course of the main economic policies.
8th, if the official participation rate is subtracted from the large number of zero ballots, the participation rate is less than 35%, a rate to ponder by political parties yet that this is not peculiar to Algeria alone; the world’s citizens tend to be uninterested in politics, with a high rate of abstention.
In summary after these elections, the citizen and the authorities are again faced with the harsh economic and social reality. A change in the trajectory of socio-political and economic and a broad front to mobilize all segments of the public is urgent in the face of the inevitable budgetary restrictions and potential tensions between 2017 and 2020.
At the announcement by the Algerian Minister of Finance of the introduction of a wealth tax in Algeria starting from 50 million Dinar or €370,000, as part of the country’s budget, I had warned the government against precipitation that may have perverse effects due to the erosion of the Information system on such a sensitive subject where the informal sphere dominates with contradictory quantifications of different officials, and an obsolete tax system unable to control the real accounts of businesses. I had in several contributions and interviews insisted on the necessary national solidarity in this period of budgetary tensions, and asserted that the concrete implementation was impracticable, to deliver a new order in the national economy through new regulatory mechanisms.
Wealth Tax and the tax system.
Generally, the high-income tax level is related to the magnitude of public spending. The wealth tax started to be abolished in the developed countries in the last fifteen years, in the face of those of the most fortunate households moving away from it altogether and relocating their businesses. All countries that have had a wealth tax, have abolished it, for example Ireland (1974), Italy (1992), Austria (1994), Denmark (1995), Germany (1997), Finland (2006), Luxembourg (2006), Sweden (2007) and Spain (2008). Although the Algerian parliament has rejected an wealth taxation proposal of the Executive, it seems that this type of tax has generally many adepts amongst the public as well as the elites.
But even if the number of countries that still practice wealth tax has declined, the system is far from being rejected everywhere and above all there are different solutions with the same objective. For the Algerian case, before introducing it into the Finance Bill 2018, the government would have to reflect on its applicability by a broad national debate. By its eventual withdrawal, there are risk to discredit its action with the population, because of its low economic culture, whereas what is demanded is a shared sacrifice.
In the meantime, in the United Kingdom tax before the Brexit, was 30% in 2008. Corporate tax is between 2016 nd 2017 is 20% and should go down to 17% in 2020, or twice as much as in France.
Despite the uncertainty caused by the outcome of the referendum, the United Kingdom wants to remain ‘open to business’. Wanting to avoid for as much as possible, a weakening of the economy by sending a strong signal to worried companies hoping to avoid relocations to Ireland, where the corporate tax rate is 12.5%, and where many multinational companies like Google have already installed their European headquarters.
The United Kingdom’s tax model is based on a great principle: withholding from the source via the pay system (“Pay as You Earn” = Pay according to what you earn.” So, it’s up to the British employer to calculate and levy income tax each month on wages before payment is made. Also considered are the various deductions to which employees are entitled. By these two elements, the tax levied is adjusted to income and the situation of any regularization is relatively low because of the imbedded flexibility of the whole system.
Last Wednesday November 22, 2017, the Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered his Budget. Experts immediately assessed all its possible impacts and thee following was written up in The Conversation. We reproduce the same with our thanks to the authors and compliments to the publisher.
The UK chancellor of the exchequer, Philip Hammond, has delivered a budget which offered help to first-time home buyers and the prospect of more money for workers in the National Health Service, but his speech was partly overshadowed by sharp cuts to GDP growth forecasts from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Our team of academics deliver their verdict on the measures introduced and opportunities missed.
The economy
Michael Kitson, senior lecturer in international macroeconomics, Cambridge Judge Business School
The UK economy is in desperate need of a reboot but the chancellor has delivered a “neither here nor there” Budget. The two big economic issues are stagnant productivity and the uncertainty of Brexit.
Productivity – often measured as output per hour – is the key driver of economic growth which in turn determines real wages, profits and tax revenues. But productivity is no higher now than it was just before the 2008 financial crisis and the OBR has today revised down its forecasts of future productivity growth.
The chancellor pretended to be the investor that the economy needs but he reverted to type with a budget based on the narrow principles of accountancy and the constraints of fiscal rules. Hammond outlined a hotchpotch of “action plans”, “task forces” and “reviews”. The one substantive policy was the much-needed investment in housing but even here the policy is a combination of “capital, loans and guarantees” with little detail of how much will be new money.
The government needs to substantially reformulate its fiscal rules and develop a coherent investment strategy if it to ensure long-term economic transformation and the development of an economy that can cope with turbulence of Brexit.
Chris Jones, reader in economics, Aston University
Regardless of the size of the deficit and the economic effects of Brexit, the UK’s fundamental economic problem is productivity growth. Output per worker has been stagnant and there is a concern, as highlighted by the OBR’s forecasts, that the UK’s productive capacity has been severely damaged.
Until productivity rises, wages will remain stagnant. Although employment has been robust there is still significant underemployment built into the labour market. The government needs to create an environment that encourages businesses to invest. One way of doing this would be to create a public investment bank or a sovereign wealth fund to take advantage of the historically low borrowing costs available in the financial markets.
The OBR predicts that trend growth is now around 1.5%, much lower than the historic trend of around 2%. This lower projection suggests that the UK’s productive capacity has been permanently dented after the financial crisis, the impact of austerity and uncertainty related to Brexit.
The Conservatives have done fairly well on tax avoidance in recent years. The decision to deduct UK income tax from royalty payments by high tech companies is also a good move. However, given the impact of the Paradise Papers there was nothing on public country-by-country reporting which would generate much greater transparency as to where multinational firms locate their income.
Housing
Gwilym Pryce, professor of urban economics and social statistics, University of Sheffield
On the face of it the 2017 budget offers an impressive attempt to address the UK housing crisis, but it may simply be that the chancellor is running to stay still.
Proposals to boost housing supply to 300,000 net additional homes a year on average by the mid-2020s, eliminate rough sleeping by 2027 and revive the homeownership dream for young people by cutting stamp duty are all welcome. However, there are questions about whether the proposals are compatible or achievable. Setting housing supply targets is easy. Meeting them is notoriously difficult. How will the plans to boost construction industry skills have any net positive effect given the likely fall in migrant construction workers as a result of Brexit?
The abolition of stamp duty for first time buyers on purchases up to £300k (£500k in London) is also dubious. Will this not simply boost demand in that sector of the housing market, further inflating prices of “entry level” housing? And in the absence of any significant new money for social housing it’s hard to imagine how rough sleeping, which has risen by over 130% in England since 2010, will be significantly reduced any time soon.
There is little to address regional inequalities which lie at the heart of the UK housing crisis. And it’s hard to see how Hammond’s measures could offset what Boris Johnson called the “Kosovo-style social cleansing of London” and other major cities as low income households are increasingly priced out of inner city areas.
Ed Turner, senior lecturer in politics, Aston University
There is good consensus now about housing issues that need to be addressed. There should be more ambition on supply along with investment; there should be concrete action to tackle the rise in rough sleeping; and there should be greater diversity in house-building with less reliance on high-volume house builders. There is also a need to address a land market which, left to its own devices, may see land being hoarded and used for speculation rather than being built out.
On each of these points, action is promised by the chancellor. Hammond issued a “use-it-or-lose-it” threat to developers, but critics would observe that detail is sketchy (with a review and a taskforce rather than concrete policies on land and on rough sleeping). Some themes (such as the land question) were raised in February’s White Paper and are simply reiterated, without policy having developed in the meantime. Clearly the biggest headline will go to the stamp duty reduction for first-time buyers. The problem with such instruments is that they risk raising house prices rather than helping with supply.
Jill Rubery, professor of comparative employment systems, University of Manchester
Universal credit is a disaster waiting to happen. It introduces quite draconian cuts to some of the most vulnerable groups – the disabled and single parents in particular. It also provides employers with new opportunities to pass the costs of flexibility on to their workforce in the hope that the state will pick up the pieces.
It no longer provides the incentives to work promised when it was committed to. Changes in this budget to the implementation are welcome as they will reduce the catastrophe of the most vulnerable having no access to funds and at risk of losing their flats or houses even if they stop eating.
But the shambles of universal credit is evident in the fact that the measures to allow for advances and continuity of benefits is to cost £1.5 billion. It is not clear why these basic rights were not built into the initial plan unless it is evidence of neglect of the needs of benefit claimants. The plan seems to be to prevent the system itself attracting criticism, probably in the hope that the general public will not care so much about the cuts being introduced or the flexibility provided for employers to offer whatever hours they wish.
Donald Hirsch, professor of social policy, Loughborough University
This budget had some fine words about “helping families cope with the cost of living”. But for millions of families depending on benefits, tax credits and universal credit, it offered nothing to reverse the steady decline in living standards caused by freezing state support while prices rise.
All it really offered to low income families was a partial amelioration of the problems that recent policies have created. Some measures were designed to make the transition to universal credit less painful. The government also increased its “local affordability funding”, which compensates some claimants hit by the freeze on permissible Housing Benefit levels, in areas where rents are rising fastest.
The just-about-managing (and not-managing) families receiving these band aids will gain nothing from the removal of stamp duty on buying homes that they could not hope to afford.
Fuel duty and electric vehicles
Paul Nieuwenhuis, senior lecturer and co-director of the Electric Vehicle Centre of Excellence, Cardiff University
It seems that, despite some dire warnings, diesel drivers have been treated relatively leniently. Although older diesel cars will be moved up one band in terms of their Vehicle Excise Duty – which in some cases could add a few hundred pounds a year to their running costs – the fuel duty on both petrol and diesel will not be increased.
The extra income will be invested in the £22m clean air fund. Commercial vehicles will not be penalised in any way, however. Also, no penalty is envisaged for the latest generation of “clean” diesel cars, which suggests the government has accepted the industry line on these, rather than emerging independent testing evidence.
The chancellor’s admiration for driverless cars was included as one of the “cutting edge” UK technologies deserving of support under the government’s new industrial strategy. This was also linked with further support for electric vehicles, notably an additional £400m investment in charging infrastructure and a further extension of the plug-in car grant scheme. Also relevant in this context may be the £1.7 billion promised for local authorities to improve transport in their areas. Detail is lacking at this point, but if this can also be used to promote electric vehicles, that could provide an additional boost to infrastructure.
Linda Bauld, professor of health policy, University of Stirling
The chancellor’s decision to increase the duty on high strength cider looks like good news at face value. High strength ciders commonly contain 7.5% alcohol by volume and are available in large bottles with up to 22 units (equivalent to a bottle of vodka) for as little as £3.50.
This product is consumed by heavy drinkers and young people and directly contributes to alcohol-related disease and death, violence and accidents. Increasing the duty could reduce harm, but in practice the budget increase is tiny and duty on other alcohol products has been frozen – a missed opportunity overall.
In contrast, the budget has reinstated the tobacco tax escalator. Smoking is still the leading preventable cause of death in the UK, and despite recent drops in prevalence, up to one third of adults still smoke in our poorest communities. Higher prices do deter smoking, and today’s announcements could help us make further progress towards a tobacco free future.
Innovation
Geoff Rodgers, deputy vice chancellor (research and innovation), Brunel University London
The additional £2.3 billion in research and development funding announced in today’s budget is very welcome and much needed. It will allow universities to build new research programmes in collaboration with industry that identify, characterise and implement the disruptive technologies necessary to drive change in the autonomous vehicle, mobile communication and artificial intelligence technology sectors, which should all now see a significant boost in funding.
These are areas where both UK industry and UK academic research is strong, and therefore the country is well equipped to compete globally. The combination of research and development in advanced technologies within these sectors, coupled with a good supply of talented young people entering these industries, will help drive improvements in productivity and promote economic growth within the UK.
Peter Bloom, senior lecturer in organisation studies, The Open University
A major theme of the budget is the need for innovation. The chancellor boldly promised that the UK will be “at the forefront of a technological revolution”. This claim is supported by an extra £500m to boost technology development around electric cars, artificial intelligence, and robotics. This, however, pales in comparison to the technological challenges facing the country.
Right now, the creation of a high-tech economy is as threatening as it is exciting. The rise of artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation brings risks of higher unemployment, greater feelings of social alienation, and widening inequality. What is absolutely crucial then is to promote a programme of innovation that directly addresses present and upcoming economic, political, and social challenges.
This includes investment in civic technology, the use of big data to create “smart solutions” to create more sustainable cities and communities, and the application of virtual and digital technology to improve public services. In the long term, we must ensure that this research and development is aimed at more than just commercialisation but opening up the possibilities of creating a more egalitarian, free, and less economically insecure tomorrow.
Reconcile the State with the Citizen to meet the social demand.
In continuation to our Local elections of November 23rd, 2017 (Part I), here is Part II in which we would try to propose that the non-exhaustive inventory of the daily gloom of the citizen, gives all its strategic meaning to the scientific knowledge of the social environment on which to act and strive towards the ideal of economic efficiency by a better management and social cohesion.
To do this, we must first have the necessary humility to recognize our limits in this area and to consider that “social fluoroscopy” is the first element of a perennial action that tends towards this objective. It is necessary to give primacy to case studies and investigations to establish a real “social mapping” which will have to highlight the specific nature of the problems of each neighbourhood, in urban areas, and of each agglomeration in rural areas.
This is how we will know how to geographically distribute the demand for employment, poverty, precarious living conditions, populations at risk, etc., and that knowledge and data will be available for the implementation of adequate strategies…
How can the public be better welcomed?
The seat of the municipality is the first landmark for the citizen in its judgement on the grandeur of the Republican State.
It is quite clear that the state of dilapidation of the building, the lack of maintenance of open spaces, the holding of officials, the poor reception, can only refer to a negative image of the perception of the concept of the State. In daily practice, whether for a birth certificate or any other document, the misinformed citizen about his rights would be left to himself in the maze of the administration and is tossed from service to service.
When this type of attitude becomes repetitive, it generates a form of divorce between the Citizen and the State very often ending up with a loss of confidence. In this case, the rehabilitation of the Authority and the credibility of the State takes the meaning of a profound change in the reception centres of the public. To achieve this objective, the action will have to focus on three essential elements: man, means of work and the host framework.
About the first element, the reception attendants must be selected on the basis of rigorous criteria that refer to loyalty, availability of listening, quality and speed in the performance of a service. These officials, whose material situation must be necessarily improved, should feel involved in the fight that the State will have to take against injustice and the little consideration given to the public service. There is therefore a need for specific training of this staff who must learn to listen, to communicate, to convince, to consider others with courtesy.
The second aspect relates to the working conditions of staff members of the local authority, to the painfulness of manual work, to its routineness, to the fatigue that takes shape in the exercise of this function and to the pressure of the public at the wickets level which makes public servants lose their sense of human relations. In this case, the computerization of services and the improvement of comfort takes priority, the purpose of which will be the emergence of a friendly environment conducive to serenity in human relations.
The third point concerns the transmission of a positive image of a rigorous state in the management of the public thing, respectful of its people and anxious to serve it better. This image must find its translation into the state of the premises, the treatment of the external spaces, the cleanliness of the services, the reception service and the orientation of the public, the holding of the personnel and in all the elements that allow the citizen to measure the degree of consideration granted to him.
This policy takes the character of an investment for the realization of a user-friendly framework, which facilitates the reconciliation of the state and the citizen and predisposes them to engage together in “partnership” actions of a multifaceted nature, the purpose of which would be better social cohesion.
How to satisfy social demand?
First, it must be considered that the negative effects of visual pilotage which has characterized the management of our municipalities have been largely offset by the massive use of the State as a final contributor. Since this support has diminished, there could only mean re-emergence of problems, and even if the State is no longer able to fully meet all expressed needs, then a better justice in the distribution of means would be of paramount importance in the fairness of social welfare.
But how can one be fair and equitable when one’s knowledge of the environment in which one wants is intuitive and inevitably subjective to understand (1).
In the context of a real decentralization and not de-concentration, the State must ensure that the local authorities, are in full possession of all means and prerogatives to allow their full responsibility for the management of their respective territories, while safeguarding the uniqueness of policies and strategies.
In addition to the recasting of the status of local government, it goes without saying that the new prerogatives which will ensue for the local authority can only be exercised if they are accompanied by a reform of the local finances.
Each local community must have a budget and the autonomy of its use, so that the citizen can judge the capacity of its municipal administration to not only manage its territory of residence but to improve his living conditions. At the same time, the State must safeguard its basic tasks of guaranteeing everything that constitutes the interests of the national community (cohesion and social justice, safeguarding public heritage, equal opportunities for the development of all Citizens).
The autonomy of local management can only be exercised in accordance with the policies and strategies implemented by the State, to both regulate and guide the country’s economic and social development, and to help and organise equitable development and good management of all the components of the national space.
The full success of this highly complex process would involve questioning the role up to now of the State and its articulation with the market in its future socio-economic strategy, which refers to the mode of governance of both local and international matters.
Let us learn from all those social tensions that manifest themselves through most provinces. There is a dialectic link between security and development, of course of multidimensional development. It is imperative that social and cultural factors must be considered to achieve genuine decentralization by posing the problem of economic regionalisation, which will foster a more participatory society and Citizen.
Let us hope the end of demagogic speeches, that is with the revolution of the telecommunications, would be far away from any local and global realities. Let us recognize a slow cultural change on the part of the government in the face of the drastic fall in the hydrocarbons not only in prices but most importantly in their future utilization.
The set of actions mentioned above would imply a harrowing review of the current socio-economic policy which must be based on good governance not only based on Rule of Law, but on the knowledge economy and wealth and jobs creating entrepreneurs.
The objective is to promote a participatory and civic society through the restructuring of the parti system as well as civil society as a powerful mobilization network in order to avoid the direct confrontation of citizens and security forces.
These actions which are based on a strategic vision (hence the importance of a strategic planning body under the authority of the President of the Republic or the Prime Minister and why not a Ministry of State so as to give it more authority) and must be part of a government-wide reorganization around large ministries, including Economics / Education / Scientific Research, as well as territories administration.
This latter must be based on economic regionalisation, not to be confused with the harmful avatar of regionalism around regional socio-economic poles bringing together universities and regional research centers with the best competencies at the helm. Banks, public and private enterprises and representative of local economic and social organizations. The administration will have to play the role of regulator to remove all bureaucratic obstacles by promoting the development of creative energies.
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This includes investment in civic technology, the use of big data to create “smart solutions” to create more sustainable cities and communities, and the application of virtual and digital technology to improve public services. In the long term, we must ensure that this research and development is aimed at more than just commercialisation but opening up the possibilities of creating a more egalitarian, free, and less economically insecure tomorrow.
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