Monday, January 9, in Cayenne, was held a special parliamentary return. “The Parliament has been in Guyana for two days, for once it is Paris which is overseas. We came here to change methods in order to be listened to. » Emeline K/Bidi, MP for La Réunion (Democratic and Republican Left group, GDR), summarizes the satisfaction of the participants: the twelve overseas MPs are present, six others are connected remotely (i.e. eighteen of the twenty- seven elected), considering that they had succeeded “counter-return” at the start of 2023.
Neither collective nor formal intergroup, “it is a spontaneous movement born in reaction to the attitude of contempt of the government, an awareness that we must act together, after an accumulation of decisions”, explains Moetai Brotherson, GDR MP for Polynesia. Chairman of the National Assembly’s overseas delegation, the latter cites “the first amending budget from the term of office from which the overseas territories were absent”the appropriations voted to increase their budget by 220 million euros, “but swept away by 49.3”. And, above all, the electric evening from November 24 to 25, 2022, during which the government torpedoed a text adopted in the parliamentary niche of La France insoumise (LFI) to reintegrate unvaccinated caregivers, an explosive subject in the West Indies.
“It was too much. That night had the effect of bringing all the chosen ones together”underlined the organizer of the Cayenne meeting, Davy Rimane (Guyana, GDR), who returned to the initiative during a press conference in Paris on Thursday 12 January. “For the first time, we are meeting in a cross-partisan way, it is a historic signalabounded Olivier Serva (Guadeloupe, group Libertés, Independents overseas and Territories). We must be aware of our political weight. » Which believes that by being united, the Ultramarines “will weigh 5% of the votes in the presidential election”, adding the voters of Ile-de-France. A document, bringing together ” requirements “, will be transmitted to the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, in the coming days. It will combine concrete emergencies (price of plane tickets, reintegration of suspended caregivers, etc.) and long-term issues (“decoloniality” [sic]preference for hiring, etc.).
“The approach of parliamentarians can be beneficial if it creates a dynamic so that our territories are more visible and speak with one voice to the President of the Republic.comments Gabriel Serville, who leads the community of Guyana. When he brought together the overseas elected officials on September 7, 2022, Emmanuel Macron told us that the overseas territories had reached the end of a cycle, that the software would have to be changed. The dialogue is engaged, there is a work schedule, a listening dynamic. We are going to fight to fundamentally change the relationship between Paris and the overseas territories. »
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