Guadeloupe: Elected officials vote in favor of a single community and greater autonomy

Guadeloupe's elected officials, meeting in Congress, adopted four resolutions on Tuesday, June 17, with a view to a statutory and institutional change and fiscal autonomy for the archipelago, with a transition to a single community. The elected officials of the overseas territory adopted resolutions "on the merger of the two communities, on powers and fiscal autonomy," summarized Guy Losbar, president of the department and supporter of the project.

These resolutions aim to bring together the regional and departmental councils into a single entity, which would be endowed with "autonomous normative power in matters of local taxation," according to the text. The text must still be adopted during the next plenary sessions of the two communities to be presented to the government, with a view to a possible local referendum. The potential new community would deal, for example, with "regional planning," "economic and sustainable development," or even "labor law."

The text also provides that "Guadeloupe remains an outermost region of the European Union" , as well as the organization of "a citizen consultation with a view to determining, through the collective expression of Guadeloupeans, the identity signs of Guadeloupe" . "These resolutions will be contained in the preliminary draft organic law" which would lay the foundations for the new status of Guadeloupe, affirmed Guy Losbar.

Ary Chalus, the regional president, did not participate in the vote. He left the Congress alone on Tuesday morning after his introductory speech, announcing that he would not "vote for the resolution ." According to him, "there is no consensus" and the "work is far from being completed."

However, members of his majority voted for the text. The groups "Péyi Gwadloup" and "Gwadloup Plurielle Solidaire" , minorities from the region and the department, had announced the day before that they would boycott the session, describing the project as "unrealistic" . The single territorial authority model already exists in Martinique and Guyana.