The councils that run continental France’s 13 “super-regions”, formed last year from the previous 22 regions in an attempt to cut bureaucracy and costs, cannot pass their own laws and so wield little serious political power, reports The Guardian.
But they dispose of sizeable budgets – the largest, Île-de-France, had 4.9 billion euros (£3.5bn) to spend this year – and the decisions they make can have a real impact on the daily lives of millions of people.
In essence, French regions are in charge of economic development (including the allocation of 20 billion euros of European structural funds), tourism, business development and professional training.
They also have oversight over public transport, secondary schools (lycées), environmental issues such as air quality, and regional arts and culture funding.
The sheer size of some of the new regions means their council presidents will be high-profile positions with a voice on the national stage: Île-de-France, for example, is home to 12 million people, and Auvergne Rhône-Alpes to 7.8 million
The two regions most likely to fall to the far-right Front National in the second round of elections next Sunday, Nord-Pas-de-Calais Picardie (NPDCP) and Provence-Alpes-Cŏte d’Azur (PACA) – have six million and five million inhabitants respectively.