Question 28939 — overseas

Summary

Ms Josette Manin draws the attention of the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs to the legitimate concerns about the survival of businesses and the sustainability of jobs in the main economic sectors of overseas regions (hotels and tourism, local industries and crafts, service and distribution companies) during the covid-19 epidemic. Due to the specificities of the territories such as insularity, the distance from France, tropical weather conditions or even the narrowness of the local industrial fabric, the effects of this crisis will be more significant and impactful for the economy. The current and future consequences of this health and economic crisis raise many questions about the responses and the different mechanisms that European institutions intend to put in place, in favor of the regions. French outermost regions. In this case, the current (2014-2020) and future (2021-2027) programming of European structural investment funds will be crucial to cushion the effects of this crisis. The amount of European funds to which the 272 regions of the EU are eligible is arbitrated on the basis of the classification of the latter into three distinct categories: “underdeveloped”, “in transition” and “developed”. This ranking then allows the European Commission to set the level of its financial participation in projects in these same regions. Until then, the French ORs were “undeveloped” regions. It is already certain that Reunion will become a region “in transition” and there is a serious risk that Martinique will also fall into this category. While France has now entered an economic recession, if we rely according to the latest estimates (national GDP) from the Bank of France, it seems important to favor the following measures to maintain and revive investment, productivity and local consumption, in the French ORs: guarantee the continuity of payment of European aid (administrative, logistical, technical and regulatory formalities) managed by the State and the regions; massively reorient the European Fund for regional development (FEDER), with the assistance of the regions, towards direct aid to businesses with a view to supporting them during the post-covid-19 crisis recovery phase; have the guarantee that the State will exert all its weight so that the European Commission (DG Regions) maintains Martinique and all of the French outermost regions as “underdeveloped” regions with a view to the 2021-2027 programming of European Structural and Investment Funds (EFSI); negotiate a new economic partnership agreement with the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) promoting closer commercial and economic exchanges between the French outermost regions and the latter, which are more in line with their reciprocal needs. The MP expresses the hope that these proposals will be implemented in consultation with regional executives and socio-economic partners of the territories concerned. She asks him if he is ready to defend these proposals to the European Union, which have already been the subject of a letter to his ministry.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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