The president of the COM was yesterday in videoconference with a part of the government and the other presidents of regions of France.
President Daniel Gibbs took part yesterday in the interministerial meeting organized by videoconference by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, in the presence of Ministers Jacqueline Gourault, Bruno Lemaire, Gérald Darmanin, Jean-Michel Blanquer and Sébastien Lecornu as well as the Presidents of Regions on two themes main: the organization of deconfinement and the implementation of the solidarity fund.
First, Daniel Gibbs informed of the decision of the Collectivity of Saint-Martin to supplement the state solidarity fund and to release an exceptional fund of 5 million euros to support Saint-Martin businesses. This fund will be distributed in three tranches in the form of zero-rate deferred repayment loans, set up with its institutional partners, ADIE and Initiative Saint Martin Active. These measures will soon be voted on by the territorial executive and made available to businesses; the eligibility criteria will be similar to those of the national solidarity fund. To this end, President Gibbs would like to welcome the government's decision to extend this last scheme by one month for the benefit of VSEs and SMEs in difficulty, and to put in place, as quickly as possible, specific measures for businesses under the tourism and catering sectors, which will have to wait longer to be able to restart their activity.
Daniel Gibbs announced at the same time the decision ratified by the territorial council of Saint-Martin, on April 14, to postpone the payments of the TGCA, the corporate tax and the business license, so that our companies can preserve their cash flow.
He recalled the importance for Saint-Martin of being able to make full use, like the other regions, of the common law mechanisms, relating to national solidarity; and to ensure that there are no obstacles to the payment of national aid to Saint-Martin.
Secondly, the President of the COM spoke of the need to implement a plan to revive the economy of Saint-Martin. With this in mind, their team plans to revise the Convergence Contract with the State. Correspondingly, they will be able to use the remainder of European funds under the 2014-2020 programs (€ 26 million) to respond to the Covid crisis19 as well as redeploy part of the funds allocated to cooperation with Sint-Maarten (€ 10 million) on actions to overcome this crisis.
The President of Saint-Martin also mentioned the need to launch a plan to safeguard the revenues of the Collectivity, with in particular the revision of the addendum to the State / COM protocol signed on November 6, 2017, which runs until the end of 2020, with the possibility of being renewed for a period of three years (2021-2022-2023).
Saint-Martin wishes to be able to obtain from the State, in 2020 and 2021, the guarantee of the tax revenues actually collected in 2019 (100M €). Daniel Gibbs also indicated that the COM would respond favorably to the possibility offered by the Government during the interministerial committee of March 12, 2018, of having a “Large Loan” of 60 M. €, and at zero rate (the interests being borne by the State), in order to speed up the rehabilitation works of water and sanitation networks, which are essential for health.
Finally, on the issue of deconfinement he expressed his concern about the reopening of schools in May, compliance with health and safety measures should be the sine qua non condition for an optimal recovery of the class for Saint-Martin students. The Community will not take any risk before being assured by the government of the implementation of protective measures satisfactory for the students and the population.
The President also recalled the geopolitical specificity of Saint-Martin and its binationality to take into account in the fight against Covid19, because of the flow of people who cross the border every day and the health impact of this back and forth comes at the time of deconfinement.
For Daniel Gibbs, deconfinement, economic recovery as well as the reopening of schools, must be the subject of transversal reflection and adequate measures, for a rapid and lasting recovery with a controlled risk.
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