Elected on September 27, Annick Petrus began her mandate as Senator for Saint-Martin on October 1. She is a member of the Social Affairs Committee and a member of the overseas delegation. She is part of the Les Républicains group.
On October 20, she participated in the debates in public session on the constitutional bill for the full exercise of local freedoms.
As a reminder, a working group was convened in February by the President of the Senate to reflect on "a new generation of decentralization". After six months of work, the two co-rapporteurs (Philippe Bas and Jean-Marie Bockel) presented 50 proposals for the full exercise of local freedoms. They also tabled proposals for constitutional, organic and ordinary law. The constitutional bill as presented to senators included six articles "intended to establish the place of local authorities in the organization of our country and to increase their room for maneuver while respecting the unity of the Republic". Article 6 directly concerned overseas since it suggested the reunification of "Articles 73 and 74 of the Constitution. This would allow overseas territories that so wish to benefit from a tailor-made status, making it possible to flexibly determine the part of legislative specialty and that of legislative identity applying on their territory. This meeting will allow our overseas territories to have a framework within which their aspirations of local organization could flourish, while respecting the principle of unity of the Republic ”.
Last week, Annick Petrus declared in open session that it was "necessary" that this article "be withdrawn". She also confided that “Saint-Martin feels neither the desire nor the need for a big statutory evening. Saint-Martin does not wish, unlike other overseas communities, to have all powers transferred with the exception of the sovereign power of the State ”. She recalled that "our priority in the current difficult economic, social and health context is to optimize the legal, administrative and institutional tools to consolidate our post-Irma reconstruction, to initiate our post-covid-19 recovery. and thus to succeed in the sustainable and united development of Saint-Martin ”. She considers that "the dividing lines between the State and the COM set by the Constitution and the organic law of 2007 are rather clear and suit us overall, which does not exclude in the future legislative adjustments to improve the provisions of our statute ”. Also "the point of vigilance [is not] the statutory debate, but the correct institutional practice". She nevertheless admits that “avenues for improvement do exist. It is indeed possible and desirable to improve the constitutional status of overseas territories, in particular by remedying the difficulties and blockages observed in the implementation of the constitutional reforms of 2003 and 2008 ”.
In the end, the Senate adopted, at first reading, a constitutional bill. section 6 has been repealed. The text was then sent to the deputies for their consideration. (soualigapost.com)
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