Visiting Martinique, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin declared Thursday March 14 that the government is studying
“several scenarios”
for institutional reform in Martinique, in front of elected officials and professionals from this French overseas territory.
In May 2022, the presidents of the executives of Guadeloupe, Reunion, Mayotte, Martinique, Saint-Martin and Guyana launched an
“appeal from Fort-de-France”
requesting
“a profound change in policy”
to aid the development of their territories hit by poverty, and solutions to problems specific to French people overseas, which could go as far as constitutional reform.
“The President of the Republic has asked me to tell you that he will meet with you in the near future to discuss the agenda for possible reform
,” assured Gérald Darmanin at the Martinique Assembly, in Fort -of France.
The president of the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique, Serge Letchimy questioned the minister on the proposal which consists of
“either the addition of an article 73-1 in the Constitution, or the addition of a specific Martinique article”
, voted by local elected officials in November 2023.
“These are several scenarios that we are looking at seriously and attentively
,” replied the man who is also Minister of Overseas Territories, specifying that these would not be
“reforms by ideology for themselves, but to serve a project
.
Martinican elected officials hope to take advantage of the essential constitutional reform in New Caledonia after the Noumea Agreement of 1998 to also modify the articles of the Constitution relating to the other overseas territories.
“There was never any question of taking Martinique out of the Republic
,” Serge Letchimy clarified, adding that
“the right to equality is not the enemy of the right to be different
. ”