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A short but intense trip. From Monday November 18 to Friday November 22, the President of the Collectivité was in Paris, along with Vice-President Marie-Angèle Aubin and Technical Services Director Chloé Cohan. Present in France to attend the 106th Congress of Mayors, the delegation took advantage of the trip to meet with various Paris-based players.
A few hours after landing in France, the President of the Collectivité was on the ground. For the second year running, Xavier Lédée took part in the Congrès des maires. This event is organized every year by the Association des maires de France (AMF), and its aim is to enable elected representatives to meet around "round tables". This year, the Saint-Barth delegation took part in discussions on the retreat of the coastline, furnished tourist accommodation and insurance. Today, we have insurance companies that are reluctant to stay in the area," explains Xavier Lédée. I was able to discuss this with several elected representatives, including Guadeloupe MP Olivier Serva. "
The President of the Collectivité also met with the President of the Centre National de la Fonction Publique Territoriale (CNFPT) to arrange insurance training for the Collectivité's agents. A round-table discussion on risk prevention and crisis management also attracted the delegation's attention. "We don't necessarily come away with ready-made solutions, but we do try to compare situations and see how people manage things, which helps us to project ourselves," adds Xavier Lédée.
Support from CRE
On Monday November 18, a meeting was scheduled with Emmanuelle Wargon, President of the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE). On the agenda: the reconstruction of the EDF plant. According to Xavier Lédée, this project is "dragging on and on", and its progress depends on the French government's approval of the Multi-Year Energy Plan (PPE). As a reminder, the CRE issued its report at the end of March, recommending that the Collectivité take measures to avoid an explosion in energy costs. "The CRE issued a favorable opinion, and now it's the State's turn to sign the documents", assures the President of the Collectivité, who adds that he had a word with the Minister for Overseas France when they met a few days later.
Other subjects were also discussed with the CRE president, such as Paprec's project to install a turbine to recover energy from the second furnace and reinject it into the power plant.energy from the second furnace and re-inject it into EDF, or the application of feed-in tariffs for photovoltaic energy. The latter is on the agenda for the territorial council meeting on Thursday November 28 (see page 5). Elected representatives will have to consider a resolution to amend the Energy Code to apply a decree issued on January 5, 2024 in non-interconnected zones such as Corsica, Guadeloupe, Reunion and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, but which did not include Saint-Barth. This decree sets out the conditions under which EDF can purchase electricity generated by photovoltaic solar power from private customers. For the time being, the President of the Collectivité is proposing to adopt the same rates as in Guadeloupe. According to Xavier Lédée, these plans have been welcomed by Emmanuelle Wargon.
Systematize territorial bans
The following day, the President of the Collectivité was heard by the French National Assembly as part of a mission on the institutional evolution of overseas France. This was an opportunity to take stock of the island's institutional status. It's also an opportunity to show the limits of this status," he explains. For example, there's no provision for a review clause, so we can sit down around the table and look at what's working and what's not. "
The waltz of appointments continued on the judicial and security front, notably during a meeting with Valentin Raguin, adviser to the Minister of Justice. The President of the Collectivité took the opportunity to support the project to create a judicial court on Saint-Martin, but also "to insist on the importance of implementing territorial bans". The President of the Collectivité would like to see any person who has no economic or family ties to the island, and who has been sentenced to a judicial penalty, systematically banned from the territory.
Gendarmerie and Public Finance
On Thursday November 21, a meeting was organized with André Petillot, Major General of the Gendarmerie. During this meeting, the coordination agreement between the police and the gendarmerie was discussed, as was the introduction of a nautical means for the gendarmerie.a nautical resource for the gendarmerie, and the possibility of having a territorial intelligence officer on the island directly, in addition to the branch based in Saint-Martin. Numerous tools to combat drug trafficking. On a different note, Amélie Verdier, Director General of the Public Finance Department (DGFIP), also welcomed the President of the Collectivité to her office to discuss the upgrading of salaries for Collectivité staff and the raising of ceilings for public procurement contracts.
