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RIVAL AMENDMENTS TO BILL THAT IS REDRAWING MAP OF FRANCE PROPOSE TEAMING AQUITAINE WITH LIMOUSIN OR MIDI PYRENEES LIMOUSIN could merge with Aquitaine in a new-look map of France, if an
amendment to President François Hollande’s territorial reform bill is adopted. MPs are due to debate the proposed cut in the number of French regions, from 22 to 14, next week - which, the
government says, would save up to €25bn a year. Yesterday, Essonne MP Carlos Da Silva proposed taking Limousin out of a greater Limousin-Centre-Poitou-Charentes region and merging it instead
with Aquitaine. It has been reported that the mayor of Tulle and adviser to François Hollande at the Elysee Palace, Bernard Combes, has pleaded for a merger with Aquitaine. It is the only
amendment currently formally proposed, but Béarn’s Socialist MPs Martine Lignières-Cassou, Nathalie Chabanne and David Habib, are themselves preparing an amendment that would see Aquitaine
join the Midi-Pyrenees-Languedoc Rousillon bloc. They argue that this “fusion of the two regions would result in a more balanced and polycentric development of the southwest”, uniting all
the regions that border the Pyrenees. Under current plans, Aquitaine would remain a standalone region. Graphic: Elysee Palace
