National Assembly mission: MPs listening to local concerns
A delegation from the National Assembly visited the Northern Islands last week as part of a fact-finding mission on ‘the economic development strategy for the overseas territories’. The MPs met with key institutional and economic stakeholders in Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin to gather their views, which will form part of a future parliamentary report on the economic development of the overseas territories.
Established by the Conference of Presidents of the National Assembly in 2012 and granted legislative status in 2017, the Overseas Territories Delegation comprises 54 Members of Parliament, including the 27 elected representatives from the overseas territories, who are ex officio members. It is responsible for keeping the National Assembly informed on all matters relating to the overseas territories and for assessing the public policies implemented there.
In early 2026, the delegation launched a fact-finding mission focusing on the economic development strategy for the overseas territories. Comprising thirteen rapporteurs, its aim is to collect data to inform a report that will be made public, designed to provide a better understanding of how the overseas territories’ economies function, thereby informing an economic development strategy for the overseas territories based on the realities on the ground.
As part of this, following visits to Réunion and then Mayotte at the end of May, Émiline K/Bidi and Frédéric Maillot (MPs for Réunion), Jean-Victor Castor (French Guiana), Philippe Gosselin (Secretary) and Davy Rimane (MP for the second constituency of French Guiana and Chair of the Overseas Delegation) continued their work in the Antilles-French Guiana region. Accompanied by Frantz Gumbs (Vice-Chair of the Overseas Delegation), they held a series of hearings last week in the Northern Islands to gather the expectations and proposals of economic stakeholders from both territories. For whilst many of the challenges are shared, each territory also has its own vulnerabilities.
A shared vision of development
The MPs held hearings with representatives from the CESC (Economic, Social and Cultural Council), the CCISM, the port authority, the Tourism Club, Medef, the first vice-president of the Collectivité and the prefect.
In Saint-Martin, all the stakeholders met share a common vision of economic development: whilst tourism remains the main driver of the local economy today, all stakeholders consider it essential to diversify economic activities in order to reduce the territory’s dependence on this single sector.
The difficulties highlighted are numerous and mirror those encountered in other overseas territories: transport and logistics costs, supply chain delays, heavy reliance on imports, food security challenges, exposure to climate-related risks, difficulties in securing European funding, and training needs, which are deemed insufficient or sometimes ill-suited to local realities. Members of Parliament also highlighted a recurring obstacle: standards. Economic stakeholders criticise a proliferation of French and European regulations that are often ill-suited to local realities, compounded by regulatory differences between the French and Dutch parts of the island, which complicate cooperation and trade with neighbouring territories.
‘Breaking new ground’
Comparisons between the various French overseas territories will help to provide a better evidence base for shaping public policy. “Through these meetings, we want to gather concrete proposals so that laws, budgets and regulations finally meet the needs of our territories,” explained the chair of the Overseas Territories Delegation. For the question remains: is it possible to overcome these difficulties? “The relationship between Paris and its territories is no longer effective. We are heading towards a point of no return,” says Frédéric Maillot, MP for Réunion. Davy Rimane shares this view and emphasises the importance of the forthcoming budget discussions: in his view, whilst the State currently allocates around 2.9 billion euros to the overseas territories, the actual funding required to address the territories’ urgent needs would amount to nearly 11 billion euros. “We must be ready for the vote on the Finance Bill, and to do that we need to have all the data to hand,” he emphasises.
The delegation will travel to the Pacific in October to complete this review of the overseas territories before submitting its report. Its aim is to propose an economic development strategy based on the realities on the ground and the specific characteristics of each territory, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to the overseas territories devised in Paris.
