“That's it, the stage has been passed”: two municipalities formalize their merger on the first day of 2025, and it raises concerns

The two communes of Saint-Denis and Pierrefitte-sur-Seine officially merged this Wednesday, January 1, 2025, creating the second largest commune in the region. This new city is now called the new commune of Saint-Denis.

This is the result of an approach that began in the spring of 2023, following the desire of PS mayors to merge their two municipalities: Mathieu Hanotin, Saint-Denis, and Michel Fourcade, Pierrefitte-sur-Seine.

The elected officials of the two cities celebrated this initiative by cutting the traditional red ribbon bearing the logo of the new municipality, at a crossroads where the two signs still face each other. “That's it, the stage has been passed, we are united!”, declares Mathieu Hanotin, according to Le Parisien.

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The new municipality of Saint-Denis officially has 149,781 inhabitants, according to the town hall, allowing it to obtain an allocation reserved for merged municipalities with a total population of less than 150,000.

Many changes

This initiative will allow the inhabitants of Pierrefitte to benefit from many advantages such as: gradual implementation of free school canteens, significant reduction in property tax, etc.

A merger that also allows the city of Saint-Denis to pocket a sum of 6.6 million euros from the State as a “seed grant”. This aid is given to cities that merge.

“People are upset. We're going to be under the supervision of Saint-Denis. There's a problem somewhere. It means that the municipal council is not capable of managing its own city”, confesses Léon-Christian, 67, who has lived in Pierrefitte for more than twenty-five years.