OVERVIEW
The Grand Paris, also known as the Métropole du Grand Paris, was officially established on January 1, 2016. It serves as an administrative structure for collaboration between the City of Paris and its neighboring suburbs. This includes the City of Paris itself, as well as the communes of the inner suburbs in the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne. Additionally, it encompasses seven communes in the outer suburbs, such as Argenteuil in Val d'Oise and Paray-Vieille-Poste in Essonne, which were included to incorporate the major airports of Paris. The Metropole spans an area of 814 km2 (314 sq mi) and has a population of 6.945 million individuals.
The governance of the new structure is carried out by a Metropolitan Council consisting of 210 members. These members are not directly elected, but rather chosen by the councils of the member Communes. By 2020, the Metropole's core responsibilities will include urban planning, housing, and environmental protection. Patrick Ollier was elected as the first president of the metropolitan council on January 22, 2016. Despite having a population of nearly seven million people and contributing to 25 percent of France's GDP, the Metropole operates on a relatively small budget of only 65 million Euros, in contrast to the City of Paris, which has a budget of eight billion Euros.
As for the regional government, the Île de France Region, which encompasses Paris and its surrounding communities, is governed by the Regional Council. This council is composed of 209 members representing the various communes within the region. In the regional election held on December 15, 2015, the Union of the Right, a coalition of centrist and right-wing parties led by Valérie Pécresse, narrowly emerged as the victor, defeating a coalition of Socialists and ecologists. The Socialists had previously governed the region for seventeen years.