The Aix-en-provence Centre de recherches administratives (CRA) held its 40^th panel discussion on 3-4 November 2017. For the last forty years, the CRA kindly invites academic experts in administrative law from across Europe (Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, UK) and beyond (Japan, China) to discuss topical issues in the field (e.g. ethics of civil servants, digitalization of administrative procedures, regulatory agencies, judicial review). These annual meetings have been chaired in the past by prestigious French administrative and comparative law professors, such as Professors Rivero and Ponthier and are now enthusiastically organized by Professor Delphine Costa. This 2017 meeting discussed « Citizens-administration: 40 years of evolution ».

Professor Ponthier introduced the meeting with a detailed analysis of the changes in the French administration and their ambiguous directions: sometimes leading the administration to coming closer to the citizens (information, participation), sometimes to…