Move over Monaco: How one self-declared principality is fighting for rural France

Nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees, hard to reach, and home to fewer than 200 people, one might wonder why the French village of Laas is getting so much attention.

The answer becomes apparent upon entering the village, with a welcome like no other.

An official sign reads “Principality of Laas”, a bright customs shed is adorned with a blue, yellow and red coat of arms, and behind that lies a barrier granting entry to one of Europe’s newest – and smallest – principalities.

Yet unlike Andorra or Monaco, Laas’s self-declared independence has no legal basis.

The man behind the stunt, mayor Jacques Pedehontaa, wrote an open letter to the then president Nicolas Sarkozy about a decade ago asking for permission to transform the village into a principality – with no tax on goods and exemptions for businesses.

The logic? To empower local authorities and champion investment in rural France.

The response from Mr Sarkozy arrived a few weeks later. Unsurprisingly, it was a no.

Undeterred, Mr Pedehontaa stuck to his guns. In 2015, the village declared independence and has since tried to drum up attention and support in various ways.

While Monaco has its annual Formula One Grand Prix, Lass boasts a three-hour wheelbarrow race with a properly marked-out track. There is even a large chateau on the edge of the village, and the mayor is promising Monaco-style royal weddings.

Mr Pedehontaa has even designed and printed a blue Principality of Laas passport, and visitors can apply for citizenship online although it will not get them very far, literally speaking.

Speaking to the 63-year-old over the course of a day – he is known as “Mr 100,000 Volts” and barely pauses for breath – it is clear that this is a man on a mission.

“You have the capital Paris and other prosperous regional cities and then there is the rest. France’s rural landscape is completely ignored,” he told The Independent, saying that people only tend to visit the countryside during the summer.

“My gesture by creating a principality is a cry for attention and to say, well, we are on our own so let’s develop our village autonomously.”

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The stunt has attracted a lot of curious tourists, Paris-based television crews, and even some high-level support.

Just like the principalities of Monaco and Andorra that the mayor would like to emulate, Laas needs “sponsorship” in the form of an independent co-prince whose role is to make sure the principality’s constitution is respected as a sort of head of state.

While Mr Pedehontaa may not have royalty, he has found backing from the bishop of the nearest city, Bayonne.

“In principle the bishop has given his goahead because he finds the project a little eccentric and fun but also he wants to support the mayor’s drive to develop his village in the heart of the countryside,” said the bishop’s spokesman, Father Ludovic de Lander.

“The Catholic Church believes rural life has to be preserved and the church in the centre of Laas represents that link.”

About a fifth of the French population lives in the countryside or in towns with fewer than 5,000 people.

But the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement that swept the country three years ago highlighted long-simmering grievances within this section of French society that had been ignored or overlooked by policy makers in Paris.

Their complaints included there being few job opportunities in their territories – forcing them to undertake long expensive commutes – rising fuel taxes, and dwindling social services such as healthcare that urbanites take for granted.

However, Professor Emmanuelle Auriol of the Toulouse School of Economics said it was inaccurate to suggest that the government had abandoned the countryside.

Wealth inequality is in fact reducing between the countryside and cities thanks to large subsidies to the municipalities, she said.

Nevertheless, Ms Auriol pointed to the ageing demographics of the countryside as young people head to cities and said the mayor of Laas was on the right track with his plan.

“Local decision makers should make an effort to attract people from big cities that have large incomes and entice them to buy a house for vacation,” she said.

“[They should] also encourage people who are retiring from big cities with steady income to come and settle in these low density areas … and actually this is what is happening.”

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In one extreme example, artist Kate Sparrow moved to Laas from Hong Kong two years ago with her husband and three children.

The British family became unhappy with political developments in Hong Kong and made the move to Laas after encouragement from other expat friends in the area.

“It’s nice to think about the simple things in life – we have been growing vegetables and have less money but more quality of life, which is what we wanted,” she said.

Mr Pedehontaa believes that the coronavirus pandemic could spur more people to move to Laas with a growing number of urban dwellers considering swapping the city for the countryside.

“The idea is to explain that you can find a balance between your professional and family life here – in other words happiness in a village of 140 people,” he said.

If that fails, then the mayor says he has a nuclear option ready – turning Laas into a tax haven to attract businesses.

“I haven’t decided on whether to do it, but if the bureaucrats in Paris don’t listen to us in the countryside then it’s the next step,” the mayor said mischievously.

Yet the French authorities, who have so far allowed the self-declared principality to have its fun without interference, are not likely to find that so amusing.