^ Right. Perhaps that's why they're talking about 13 regions while the map is showing only 12.
I suspect Pays-de-la-Loire + Bretagne and Île-de-France + Centre would have made sense to some extent, but then both resulting regions might have been too big and disturbing to the French peculiar understanding of balance.
From what I heard, only 2 of these consolidations are really warmly welcome. Lower + Upper Normandies and Bourgogne + Franche-Comté for historic, cultural and synergy reasons.
I'm not even sure Nord-Pas-de-Calais + Picardie or Auvergne + Rhône-Alpes would be anything obvious, but they seem ok.
The rest of these mergings feels a little odd to me.
Bah, probably just a matter of habits.