In their capacity as deputies of Corsica, Jean-Félix Acquaviva, Michel Castellani and Paul-André Colombani wanted to express in a press release their friendship and their solidarity with the populations of the Antilles and their elected representatives, especially Saint-Martinois.
“Following the 5th interministerial committee for the reconstruction of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, 493,6 million euros were announced by the State to help rebuild these islands. Nevertheless, it should be noted that less than 100 million correspond to real aid to the populations and to the revival of the economy (including 21 million "exceptional" funds). The remainder of the sum corresponds to emergency aid sent by France (airlift and dispatch of soldiers), to European solidarity funds, to the reconstruction by the State of its own infrastructure or to the moratorium granted to companies. and the loan (by definition both repayable). The attitude of the State would be linked to the status of overseas collectivity of these two islands. To believe the statements in the press of one of its representatives: the State was not obliged to help these communities because they made the choice to fall under article 74 of the Constitution and to dispose certain specific skills, including taxation. However, linking the status of citizen to that of taxpayer is conceptually serious. If we follow this logic, it would also mean that the 57% of French people who do not pay tax would be excluded from state solidarity after a natural disaster. This is reminiscent of censal suffrage. While France comes to the aid - and rightly so - to developing countries (commitments made at the UN to donate 0,7% of its GNP), it would not show exceptional solidarity for a territory placed under its control. sovereignty which suffered, moreover, one of the greatest natural disasters that the West Indies have ever known. The treatment of this dramatic case informs us a lot about the ideological background of the metropolitan authorities as regards the conception of the State and its relations with the territorial collectivities. This form of condescension by the central State against these overseas communities, endowed with autonomy, just as with regard to Corsica (speech of the President of the Republic of February 6 and 7 ), challenges us in more than one way. Aimé Césaire wrote that "the hour has come for us", we also believe it: it is time for the populations who have democratically formulated the choice of autonomy to be respected and put in a situation of truly power. to embark on the path of responsibility.
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