Ladies and Gentlemen who govern us,

Our Collective informs you of a situation that has now become unsustainable. Like all, we are confined. Like everyone, we are aware of the risks, like all, we are concerned about the future.

However, an additional constraint has been added for many of us for weeks now: the closure of the border. We are many entrepreneurs, job creators, employees, artisans living in the Dutch part but having their professional activity in the French part. Our companies pay all their taxes there, to the French state or to the Collectivity and participate greatly in the budget of the latter through the TGCA, license and other local taxes, whatever some decision makers in high places who guide our fate and the offensive and inappropriate responses that would have been released.

If the members of our collective live in the Dutch part it is by choice or by necessity (as for example one of the consequences of Irma). The specificity of our island allows us to do so and this is not prohibited. Reciprocity also exists, many people live in the French part and go to Sint-Maarten every day to work (and return in the evening on the French side). It's Saint Martin, it has been going on since 1648 and nobody can change that. This is what makes Saint Martin unique around the world, and differentiates it in its very competitive Caribbean environment.

EVERYTHING must be implemented so that the economic recovery requested by our Prime Minister Edouard Philippe can take place under the best conditions, it is everyone's duty.

We are healthy, we follow and we will follow the recommendations of our Government such as “masks for all” and other instructions and are ready to be tested if tests are available.

We are an integral part of the driving forces of the economy of Saint-Martin, and we have the duty to resume our activities from May 11 without being penalized by the discrepancy of deconfinement between the two parts of our island. Why does a Niçois have the right to go to work every day in San-Remo without any difficulty and in Saint-Martin it is impossible?

Paris is in favor of a rapid reopening of the intra-European borders so it must be possible to find with us, in such a small territory, solutions for the workers that we are.

To date we have NO indication of the actions in progress! Only systematic refusals from the Prefecture reach us as soon as a request for "passage" is made!

We need to go to our businesses now and every day to participate in the restart of Saint-Martin, having already suffered enough since September 2017. We wish to receive representatives of the French government in Saint-Martin, clear answers and quick solutions and the least restrictive possible to gradually resume work, always respecting the safety and distancing instructions.

The wait is torture! The hopeless wait, the worst of all!

We remain hopeful because reason ends up winning, and as the saying goes “Necessity makes law”.

Collective

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