Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (sometimes abbreviated BFC) is a new Region of France created by the territorial reform of French Regions in 2014 by the merger of Burgundy, and Franche-Comté. The new region came into existence after the regional elections of December 2015, on 1 January 2016. Bourgogne-Franche-Comté is a provisional name, created by hyphenating the merged regions in alphabetical order; its regional council must approve a new name for the region by 1 July 2016, which then must be approved by France's Conseil d'État by 1 October 2016.

The region covers an area of 47,784 km² (18,450 sq mi), and with a population of 2,816,814.

Toponymy

The text of the law gives interim names for most of the merged regions, combining the names of their constituent regions separated by hyphens. Permanent names will be proposed by the new regional councils and confirmed by the Conseil d'Etat by 1 October 2016.

The interim name of the new administrative region is a hyphenated placename, composed of the names of former administrative regions of Bourgogne (Burgundy) and Franche-Comté (Free County) .