"My goal and that of my entire team is to report to you on the news of our services and the actions put in place by the Collectivity and its elected officials, as part of the crisis management of the Covid19 coronavirus", specified in the preamble Daniel Gibbs during his intervention live on Facebook.
Before getting to the heart of the subjects that we wish to bring to your attention, I would first like to tell you how sensitive I am to the situation we are going through and how mobilized the Community and its elected officials are to respond to the many emergencies caused by this health crisis and the resulting containment situation.
I want to express my sincere gratitude and respect to those who apply the strict containment guidelines, as they help reduce the spread of the virus and save lives.
To the others, thank God they are less numerous, I urgently invite you to open your eyes to what is happening, to imagine the impact of your attitudes on you and your loved ones and to follow the restrictions with full responsibility.
The time is too serious to take things lightly. We are in the islands, 7000 km from Paris, but it must be understood that we are facing the same risks!
Together, we have already had to overcome Irma and today we have to face an unprecedented global health crisis.
If health is a competence of the State, the Collectivity plays a determining role in its field of competences.
Supporting the most disadvantaged, young people, helping businesses in difficulty and safeguarding jobs are at the heart of our political action.
And we measure every day the means that must be quickly initiated to respond to this collective crisis.
We therefore decided to act quickly and organize crisis management within the Community.
We are also working on ways out of the crisis because it will be just as difficult to overcome.
The General Administration
From the beginning of March, I set up a crisis unit in order to establish an emergency operation in our institution.
The Director General of Services, Ms. Christiane Ayache, assisted by the DGA and the HRD, was able to present her plan for the continuity of public service, as soon as the confinement was announced on March 17.
To summarize quickly: certain services of the Collectivity are currently teleworking, while others intervene directly in the field or are stationed in the office.
Hotlines are open to the public every day for emergency administrative formalities, so as to guarantee the continuity of public service.
Detailed information on the operation of the services is available on the Community's website and on this information page.
To guarantee optimal safety for our agents and the public they work with every day, we have made an initial order for protective equipment: 20 masks, gloves, hydroalcoholic gel and sufficient liquid soap.
Part of the order was delivered to us, in very complicated conditions, on Thursday, April 2. The following day, the Collectivity distributed 3800 masks to its staff and partners, as well as to the firefighters, the EHPAD and the hospital center.
I am very attached to the fact that the territorial staff is properly equipped and I would like to thank my director of cabinet who took care of this logistics, in liaison with the State services since we managed the distribution of this order together .
Solidarity pact
I now come to a subject that concerns us all, helping vulnerable people.
We wanted to set up a system that was sufficiently sized to meet the expectations of our fellow citizens.
The Solidarity and Families Delegation, under the aegis of my Vice-President Annick Pétrus, has initiated a Solidarity Pact to support people in difficulty.
Together with the State services and voluntary associations, the Collectivity has reinforced its local services for the elderly, people with disabilities and people in precarious situations.
This crisis has plunged many citizens into disarray, our services identify them and provide them with concrete help after assessment of their situation.
Thanks to the Solidarity Pact, we intervene at three levels:
- Social support for vulnerable people with the distribution of food parcels
- The distribution of meals prepared each day by the Territorial Fund for School Works. Forty meals are distributed each day.
- The delivery of home shopping in conjunction with partner associations of the Collectivity - Cobraced and Sandy Ground on the Move.
I would add that other organizations are mobilized alongside us. I am thinking of the Red Cross that we have solicited for the distribution of food parcels to people in need.
All these actions are initiated by the Collectivity to support people in difficulty with the help of our partners.
For homeless people, whose situation raises the concern of the media who asked us the question, I specify that the Central Kitchen of our Caisse des Ecoles offers twenty meals a day, to the association Le Manteau de Saint -Martin who welcomes homeless people.
Food parcels are also distributed by the Delegation to the homeless, in connection with Le Manteau de St Martin.
Regarding the care of the homeless, I remind you that it is a competence of the State. The Collectivity intervenes in addition, notably with certain families, within the framework of Social Aid for Children.
I would add that for people without social security coverage, special arrangements have been put in place for access to state medical aid and thus ensure the continuity of social rights for the most disadvantaged.
To guarantee food security, support for vulnerable people and fight against isolation, the Collectivité has set up a unique number available to you, from Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 15 p.m.
If you know a vulnerable or isolated person, if you need help, do not hesitate to call:
05.90.29.13.10
In this context of crisis, we are counting on everyone's solidarity to relay this information to as many people as possible.
Thanks to this collective effort, a chain of solidarity is being set up and I would like to thank all of our partners and our staff who invest themselves in the service of all of you.
We know that containment has consequences for the course of our lives, but it is currently the only way to effectively combat the spread of Covid19.
Sint Maarten Cooperation
To come to cooperation with our neighbors to the south, as you officially learned this weekend, the government of Sint Maarten has decided on total containment on the Dutch side for the next fortnight.
We have taken note of the sovereign decision of the Prime Minister of Sint Maarten, Mrs. Sylveria Jacobs, who, like us, wishes to be able to protect her population as best as possible, while the cases of Covid19 are on the rise every day.
Unfortunately, we have seen, on both sides of the border, that some people have been slow to realize the importance of respecting traffic restrictions.
In view of the measures taken by Sint Maarten, the borders of Oyster Pond and Cupecoy are closed until further notice, following a joint agreement between the two parts of the island.
Traffic restrictions are imposed on the borders of Bellevue and Quartier d'Orléans-Belle Plaine, under the control of the gendarmerie and the KPSM police of Sint Maarten.
These two borders are only open for emergency travel on presentation of a prefectural or Sint Maarten government pass.
I ask you to respect these instructions which do not call into question the Treaty of Concordia which has united us since 1648, but which must protect the population, over a given period, in a context of unprecedented health crisis on our island.
To great evils great remedies, I want to say!
We talked at length with our Dutch counterparts and Madam the prefect, and it is not with gaiety of heart that this historic decision was taken by the local authorities, but well to protect you from a particularly aggressive virus which is now rampant in all our neighborhoods, and which endangers the lives of the sick. This tells you if the hour is serious.
We have already had too many deaths and bereaved families on both sides of the island. Let me extend our condolences to these families and wish them all the comfort they need to get through this difficult ordeal.
Containment must be respected
Containment is difficult for adults, but it must be respected; it is also the case for children who do not always understand this deprivation of liberty.
Distance education is a new device for them and for you, sometimes tedious, you still need to give yourself courage and persevere.
I salute here the teachers and the directors of the schools who do their utmost to accompany the students.
It is an unprecedented situation to which we must adapt in the light of very varied life situations.
At the request of the Rector of the Academy of Guadeloupe, the Collectivity will make 67 digital tablets available to high school and BTS students without digital tools and identified by the National Education. The legal framework for the provision of this material is being developed.
I also took the attachment of the operators of the territory so that they work for a better Internet coverage. The goal is to remove the white areas.
I am in regular contact with the Ministry of Overseas and other ministries, so that Saint-Martin receives identical treatment to other regions.
Irma has made us cautious and we now know which levers to activate to weigh with all our weight and get answers.
We have a big problem, the state ordinances on emergency devices do not apply in the territories governed by an organic law. We alerted on these subjects from the first announcements by the State. The Prime Minister's Office assures us that these devices will be applicable, and we are working with the other territories to obtain this application quickly. We are not releasing pressure on these subjects, a circular is in progress.
Aid to businesses
I come to our businesses, which after having suffered Hurricane Irma, must now face the Covid tsunami19. Employment is directly threatened and we are doing everything to limit the impact of this crisis.
I want to reassure business leaders and tell them that I am with my political team and the technicians of the Collectivity fully mobilized, in liaison with the State, on the implementation of economic and fiscal support systems.
I announced it on March 30, the Community will release aid of 6 million for businesses in difficulty at first.
Economic measures include:
- A solidarity fund of € 1500 for very small businesses and the self-employed, matched by the State and the Collectivity. Declarations can be sent by companies from April 15
- Saint-Martin, given its tax jurisdiction, does not benefit from the same IT tools as the mainland. Consequently, a deadline for implementing the solidarity fund is indeed necessary in order to harmonize the dematerialized procedures with those of Bercy.
- All companies with a turnover of less than € 1 million, with fewer than 10 employees having been shut down as part of the containment or having suffered a 50% drop in turnover in March 2020 will be able to benefit from this fund
- I will propose to set up an emergency fund of 5 million euros to support local businesses
The tax measures that will be proposed to the next Territorial Council (CT) for companies in difficulty include:
- The deferral of payment of the TGCA until December 31, 2020
- The deferral of payment of corporate tax (IS) to December 31, 2020.
- The deferral of payment of the contribution of the patents in March 2021
Rest assured that my team and I are fully committed to safeguarding our economy.
It is a complex process to develop, because it requires transversality with other institutions.
I can assure you that our colleague Marie-Dominique Ramphort for taxation and my vice-president Yawo Nyuiadzi and myself for the economy, we are doing our best to fix the last terms of application locally, with the services of the State and DGFIP and be able to announce these devices in detail very soon.
We also work in conjunction with banks, national and local organizations to find financial support solutions for our businesses. Our priority is to ensure that local businesses have enough cash to save jobs and overcome this crisis as well as possible.
On the one hand, businesses in Saint-Martin will be able to benefit from a loan guaranteed by the State up to 90%. The steps must be taken with their banks and then with BPIFrance.
Because we are aware that bank borrowing is not within the reach of all companies, we will offer several financing solutions through BPI and our local partners.
As president of the Association of ARUP Outermost Regions, I am strongly mobilized for our overseas territories in order to mobilize European funds for the financing of health and economic measures. Here too, Irma's experience is useful to us, we know which levers to activate to obtain concrete answers.
In times of compelling emergency, we have learned that to serve and save our people, we have to fight.
This is what we do, overcoming administrative obstacles and obstacles.
It is a duty, a responsibility and I can tell you that we are working on it daily.
These are devices that require execution time, but the message that you must remember is the will of the Community to support you in this test.
I invite you to scrupulously follow the confinement instructions and not to leave your home unless absolutely necessary and to continue to protect yourself against this virus.
The confinement will expand, the way out of the crisis will be gradual, we will have to appeal once again to our patience and our selflessness and why not use this period of deprivation of liberty to reflect on the great changes that are looming on the measure the impact on our lifestyles and the behavioral changes to adopt.
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