Could the Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne departments disappear from the administrative map? The question resurfaces with a proposal by Clément Beaune, the High Commissioner for Strategy and Plans, unveiled on June 3, 2026. The idea is to rethink the organization of Greater Paris, going beyond the current boundaries between Paris, nearby suburban towns, and the departments of the inner ring. The proposal centers on creating around 40 districts to administer the metropolitan core more directly.
Note, however, that at this stage there is no firm plan to dissolve the departments 92, 93 and 94. The proposal opens a path for reform. It still has to be settled in political terms, notably by the Prime Minister, before it can become a bill.
The three inner-ring departments, together with Paris, form the dense core of Greater Paris. Today, the Métropole du Grand Paris brings together Paris, the communes of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, as well as Argenteuil in Val-d’Oise and six communes in Essonne. It houses more than 7 million residents.
The reform supporters highlight a core problem of bureaucratic layering. On the same territory, multiple levels operate: municipalities, departments, territorial public establishments, the Métropole du Grand Paris, the Île-de-France Region, and the State. The result: when it comes to housing, transport, urban planning, the ecological transition, or social policy, responsibilities can feel scattered.
The proposal for 40 districts would thus aim to create a clearer organizational structure, by replacing or reorganizing some of the current levels.
If the project goes as far as abolishing the departments in the inner suburbs, the responsibilities currently handled by the departmental councils would have to be redistributed. This would notably affect the middle schools, the social services, the care for the elderly, the child welfare, certain policies tied to disability, the departmental roads, and broader territorial solidarity initiatives.
Those missions would not disappear. They would have to be handed to another structure: either the forthcoming districts, or an strengthened Métropole du Grand Paris, or a new single authority, or a combination of several levels. That is precisely what should be decided if the government chooses to push further.
This debate isn’t new. The question of reorganizing the inner suburbs has repeatedly resurfaced since the creation of Greater Paris. The Métropole du Grand Paris officially came into being on January 1, 2016, after years of debate and laws shaping the organization of the capital region.
More broadly, Paris has already undergone major territorial upheavals. In 1860 the capital absorbed surrounding communes such as Belleville, Vaugirard, Grenelle, Passy and Montmartre. But the comparison has its limits: today the communes and the inner suburbs are structured, densely populated, and politically powerful entities.
Is the era of the inner Paris suburbs coming to an end? A proposal to extend the capital beyond the beltway.
And what if Paris stretched beyond its ring road? The proposal unveiled on June 3, 2026 by Clément Beaune revives a long-standing question for Greater Paris: should the capital be expanded? [Read more]
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Is the era of the inner Paris suburbs coming to an end? A proposal to extend the capital beyond the beltway.
