Present at the 22nd conference of the ORs organized this week in French Guiana, Daniel Gibbs said he was "satisfied" after his meeting with the European Commissioner, Corina Cretu, head of the commission responsible for reconstruction of Saint-Martin.
"The European Commissioner was sensitive to our request, her willingness to help us is real," said Daniel Gibbs.
The president of the Collectivity indeed estimates that the bill for the damage caused by Irma amounts to 3,5 billion euros, a sum in which "we made priorities" for an amount of 2,5 billion, around " hotel infrastructure, the cruise terminal, the commercial port ”. "I wanted to redirect these funds towards economic development, and in particular the development of tourism," he added, recalling that Saint-Martin lived solely from tourist activity.
The issue of unemployment was also discussed at length.
DG presented its “Phoenix” Plan for the reconstruction of Saint-Martin and its 4 components: Reconstruction - Economic Recovery, Success for young people - Support for vulnerable groups.
Daniel Gibbs estimated that he had an attentive ear from the European commissioner, he hopes that these first exchanges will bear fruit by providing the RUP Saint-Martin with substantial aid from the European Union for its reconstruction.
Note that a partnership session is planned for this Friday, October 27, in the presence of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron and the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Junker. The opportunity for the President of the COM to convince of the urgency of accompanying Saint-Martin "quickly and well and by shaking up the procedures", as the Head of State said when he came to the " Friendly Island ”on September 12.
Let us now bet that the EU envelope intended for the reconstruction of Saint-Martin is up to the very heavy damage caused by Irma. _AF
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