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Formerly known as the Girardin Law, the Lodeom (Law for the Opening and Economic Development of Overseas Territories) is a measure to reduce employer contributions granted to employers in the overseas territories to support local employment. It is a program that is constantly under threat of being scaled back by successive governments. This inevitably causes concern among overseas entrepreneurs. In late March, a Senate delegation led by Elisabeth Doisneau (senator and general rapporteur for the social security budget) and Solange Nadine (senator from Guadeloupe) visited Saint Barthélemy to gauge the economic climate. This was done primarily through meetings organized at the Multiprofessional Economic Chamber (CEM) in Saint-Jean. Guided by Micheline Jacques, senator from Saint Barthélemy, the delegation met with business leaders and certified public accountants.
“We are studying the Lodeom law across all the overseas territories that benefit from it,” explains Elisabeth Doisneau. “So we also held video conferences with Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion, and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (which benefits from the Lopom). We looked at how the local economy is performing. Reducing payroll tax exemptions means that wages will become more costly for business owners. Yet we know that here, they are facing a housing crisis. Lodeom helps offset this challenge. What we want is to provide reassurance. If we change Lodeom, it will put local businesses in a difficult position.”
Solange Nadine adds: “The islands face multiple disadvantages, and it is to compensate for them that we need the Lodeom scheme. Saint-Barthélemy has its own specific characteristics but also its own needs. The housing benefit provided to employees in Saint-Barth is not necessarily available in Guadeloupe, for example. We must therefore highlight these unique characteristics in this report and make it clear to our governments that we need the Lodeom program.”
Discussions with local professionals helped convince the senators—if any convincing were needed—of the importance of such a program. They cited concrete examples of local constraints: housing costs, the shortage of local labor, dependence on imports, a high cost of living, and so on. “The coming year will not be a year of change,” Elisabeth Doisneau was keen to reassure. The Senate mission’s report will be submitted at the end of May.
