More than one in two people still cannot complete their administrative procedures online by themselves, according to a recent survey by the Defender of Rights. This observation places the digital transformation of local authorities at the center of a web of tensions: accelerated transformation of public services on one side, gradual withdrawal of certain state funding on the other. Between new European regulatory obligations, cybersecurity for small municipalities, and governance of artificial intelligence, the start of the 2026 school year reshapes the priorities of the territories.
AI Act and local authorities: what the August 2026 phase changes concretely
Most analyses on territorial digitalization focus on inclusion or dematerialization. The implementation of new provisions of the European AI Act, effective from August 2, 2026, introduces a topic that many local authorities have not yet integrated into their roadmap.
The transparency rules now require informing users when they interact with AI. For a municipality that uses a chatbot on its website or an automated request sorting tool, this obligation is not trivial. It implies knowing precisely which services utilize artificial intelligence, which requires a systematic mapping of uses.
Specifically, the concerned local authorities must establish dedicated governance: internal charter, training for agents, documentation of deployed tools, and risk management. Human oversight of important decisions remains a central principle of the regulation. A refusal of allocation or algorithm-assisted prioritization of files requires that an agent can intervene and explain the outcome.
Field feedback varies on this point: some intercommunalities have already begun this mapping work, while others are just discovering the topic. The size of the authority plays little role in the obligation but significantly affects the capacity to respond. Several associations of elected officials relay news on Digital Collectivity to enable territorial agents to keep track of these regulatory developments as they unfold.
Digital inclusion: state funding in question
In August 2026, the Belle Alliance (which brings together Departments of France, France Urbaine, Intercommunalities of France, the APVF, Avicca, Les Interconnectés, Emmaüs Connect, and the Federation of Social Centers) sent a letter to the Prime Minister. The message is clear: the state is withdrawing from funding digital inclusion as the transformation of public services accelerates.
The paradox is documented. The dematerialization of administrative procedures is progressing, but support for populations distanced from digital technology is not keeping pace. The digital advisors of France Services, deployed in recent years, see their budgetary future jeopardized.
Local authorities are absorbing an increasing share of the burden. Available data does not allow for conclusions on the exact amount of financial transfers, but the trend is clear: territories are increasingly funding the digital support of their residents on their own. For small municipalities, this situation creates a gap between the obligation to offer dematerialized services and the actual means to support those who cannot use them.
Cybersecurity for small local authorities: a national survey underway
Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr launched a survey in 2026 specifically aimed at local authorities with fewer than 25,000 inhabitants. The goal is to measure their level of maturity in terms of cybersecurity, an area where the gaps between large metropolitan areas and small municipalities remain considerable.
Rural municipalities and small intercommunalities face several vulnerabilities:
- Information systems often managed by a single agent, without dedicated expertise in IT security
- Digital budgets that prioritize daily operations (messaging, website, business software) at the expense of protection
- Dependence on external providers whose security levels are not always assessed
This national survey should provide a useful overview. However, collecting data does not solve the resource issues of the smallest structures. Mutualization at the intercommunal level remains the most frequently mentioned solution, but its implementation depends on local political will and the existence of a shared technical foundation.
Responsible digitalization: the obligation of SNR strategy and its limits
The REEN law of November 15, 2021, requires local authorities and groups of more than 50,000 inhabitants to adopt a responsible digital strategy (SNR). This obligation, fully applicable since January 1, 2025, was intended to mark a turning point in addressing the environmental footprint of territorial digitalization.
Application rates remain low. Many affected local authorities have not yet formalized their strategy, due to a lack of clear methodology or internal resources. The law sets a framework, but the tools to implement it (measurement references, shared indicators, training for agents) are arriving gradually.
This gap between legal obligation and on-the-ground reality illustrates a recurring pattern in the digital transformation of local authorities. The texts advance faster than the organizations’ capacity to absorb them, especially when several projects (cybersecurity, AI, inclusion, responsible digitalization) overlap within the same teams.
Territorial digital governance: a coordination challenge
Intercommunalities of France advocates for digitalization to be treated as a fully-fledged public policy, with a territorial strategy and dedicated political governance. The five principles defended (trust, accessibility, universality, performance, sustainability) outline a coherent framework. Their operational translation requires trade-offs that each territory must make according to its priorities and resources.
The start of the 2026 school year thus concentrates several simultaneous urgencies for local authorities: complying with new European rules on AI, maintaining support for vulnerable populations despite uncertain funding, securing vulnerable information systems, and formalizing an environmental strategy for digitalization. None of these projects can wait, but few local authorities have the resources to tackle them all at once.