Mayor (France)
After 1831 mayors were appointed (by the king for communes with more than 3,000 inhabitants, by the prefect for smaller), but councilors were elected for six years.
Specifically these are villages which were devastated during the Battle of Verdun in 1916 and never rebuilt because of large amounts of unexploded ordnance and land pollution.
[5] Councilors (except for mayors and deputies) can be citizens of a member country of the European Union.
Mayoral duties are considered a conflict of interest with those of a president of a regional council, President of a general council (the name of which is being changed to conseil départemental (departmental councilor) after the local elections of 2015), as well as a European Commissioner, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank or a member of the board of monetary Policy the Banque de France.
[7] The law on dual mandates allows a mayor to hold a single elective office (Deputy of the National Assembly, Senator, Regional Councilor, Departmental Councilor) in addition to his municipal office.
As for mayors they must be of French nationality and not be financial administration officials involved in the conflicts mentioned above, nor volunteer firefighters in municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants.
[12] Commencing from the municipal elections in 2014 these regulations apply to communes with more than 1,000 inhabitants in order to promote equality between men and women.
The mayor has his own mandate: he may resign freely and, in case of death or removal from office by court order or decision of the Council of Ministers, be replaced without causing new municipal elections.
The powers and duties of the mayor are particularly defined by the general code of local government (Code général des collectivités territoriales) namely: Under the authority of prefect, the mayor performs administrative functions, including:
