Rejection of the CFU: from catastrophism to optimism

The panic of the early hours and the doom and gloom of the initial statements seem to have given way to a relative serenity in the President's office. On Tuesday July 8, in the marriage hall of the Collectivité territoriale, President Xavier Lédée showed more restraint than in the days following the first and second rejections of the approval of the 2024 single financial account by a majority of the territorial elected representatives (JSB 1622). While the consequences of these two successive votes are real, they seem a long way from the budgetary apocalypse announced at the end of the territorial council meetings of June 27 and 30. Indeed, after denouncing "a clear attack on the island's autonomy", Xavier Lédée took a more moderate line on Tuesday July 8.
As a reminder, the single financial account (CFU) is a document that replaces both the administrative account and the management account. It records all expenditure and income for the previous financial year. In this case, that of 2024. For political rather than financial reasons, the eight elected members of the Action-Équilibre group voted against the CFU, while five of the six Saint-Barth d'Abord councillors abstained from voting on June 30. The CFU was therefore rejected. The first consequence was the intervention of the prefect, Cyrille le Vely, who on Wednesday July 2 referred the matter to the Chambre territoriale des comptes de la Guadeloupe for examination of the CFU. The Chamber has one month to issue an opinion and forward it to the State representative. The latter will then have the task of issuing an enforceable decision. In any case, following the vote on June 30, President Lédée and his department heads were forced to work hard to find appropriate solutions to "limit the consequences" of the CFU's rejection. Mainly those linked to the announced suspension of execution of the primitive budget for the duration of the procedure.

Budgetary constraints
Speaking on Tuesday, Xavier Lédée explained that Saint-Barthélemy's case was already in the hands of the Chambre territoriale des comptes (CTC). In general, the CFU is an experimental procedure designed to replace the management account and the administrative account, and in the past the territorial council had to validate that these two accounts were compliant," recalls the President. With the single document, this is done after validation with the Treasury, so the Chambre territoriale des comptes is not sure what the differences are on a single document. So they should only look at the process of this document and see how the exchanges with the Collectivité were carried out. The hope is that things will go relatively quickly. The Finance Department has already sent a first series of documents. "
At the same time, the Chairman explains that "the logical consequence" of the CFU's rejection was "the suspension of the 2025 budget, with two consequences". The first is to revert, in terms of financial resources, to 100% of the operating budget for 2024, and 50% of the investment budget. "To this end, Xavier Lédée and his department heads have "targeted" major projects currently underway.

Ongoing worksites
Work on the commercial port will continue, despite the fact that payments and commitments have been limited to 50% of the initial budget. "This does not prevent us from working and paying for what has been done," assures the Chairman. He adds that a rider amounting to 500,000 euros had just been approved by the Executive Board. "We can't commit to this rider, but the companies have agreed to continue the work and take on the financing," says Xavier Lédée.
As for the work undertaken on the road between La Tourmente and L'Œuf, the elected representative points out that it concerns a budget line for 2025. So we don't have the possibility of incurring or paying any invoices," he explains. Nevertheless, here too, the companies have taken it upon themselves to continue. "Work in Marigot and Lurin will also continue. Only work from Saline to Tourterelle has been halted. But the Chairman points out that the companies working there are committed to other sites and will continue to work. We've had a few stoppages, but all the companies have played their part," insists Xavier Lédée. We have some invoices for work carried out that cannot be paid, for an overall figure of around one million euros. "

Don't "play the sorcerer's apprentice
Other work was due to start, but will not. This is the case for the road between the dispensary and Public, scheduled to start on July 15. An advance of three million euros for the installation of the third submarine cable will not be paid out immediately. The situation is progressing and allows us to continue, despite a few blockages," reassures the Chairman. In terms of operations, the lines are more flexible, so we can get on with our work. Particularly with regard to sargassum. But now is not the time to play sorcerer's apprentice. "
With regard to the audit by the Chambre territoriale des comptes, Xavier Lédée insists that the examination will focus on compliance with accounting rules. "Objectively speaking, the CTC may still reject the accounts, but that's not the point of the process, and the CFU is being carried out by the same teams as before, who have already been involved in the process.The CFU is carried out by the same teams as before, who have already been audited", says the Chairman, who assures us that he has "no concerns whatsoever". He adds: "There's a statutory deadline, and we're cautious. But we're rather optimistic, given that the 2024 and 2025 budgets have been voted. "
In spite of the few stumbling blocks mentioned by the President, who has announced that he will be unveiling a detailed document detailing the changes brought about by the referral to the CTC, the situation appears far less dramatic than that promised at the end of the territorial council meeting on June 30. However, relative uncertainty will remain until the decision of the Chambre territoriale des comptes is handed down. This is expected in early August at the latest.

An understandable "rejection" vote

While the two refusals by a majority of local elected representatives to approve the single financial account, on June 27 and June 30, may have come as a surprise, they can nevertheless be explained by the political situation that has troubled governance for the past two years. For the record, the six elected members of the Saint-Barth d'Abord group voted against the adoption of the 2024 budget. That they abstained, with the exception of Francius Matignon on June 30, from approval of the CFU is hardly surprising. Even if the recomposition of the executive council saw Francius Matignon and Alexandra Questel promoted to vice-president seats at the beginning of June. Furthermore, although seven of the eight elected members of the Action-Équilibre group voted in favor of the 2024 budget (Marie-Hélène Bernier, first vice-president, voted against because of the lack ofThe implosion of the alliance with the presidential group (Unis pour Saint-Barthélemy) augured a change in the balance of power within the assembly. What's more, the cordial understanding that had prevailed in the early days had turned into an obvious dislike between the two groups. The tripartite assembly, in which the presidential group is in the minority, is likely to give rise to further public discord in the months ahead.

Intensive communication
While the Action-Équilibre group keeps a low profile on the networks, the same cannot be said for Saint-Barth d'Abord. The group publishes regularly, on a variety of subjects, but often to point out disagreements with President Lédée's policies. For his part, President Lédée feeds two Facebook pages bearing his name on an almost daily basis, with texts, photographs and videos featuring himself. What's more, the Unis pour Saint-Barthélemy group relaunched a dedicated page on June 29, which now relays news about the president and the group's elected representatives. It would seem that the 2027 election campaign is well underway...