The Assembly votes to align social rights between Mayotte and mainland France by 2031

The examination of the government's bill to "refound" Mayotte, already adopted by the Senate, ended in the Assembly around 1:00 a.m. "This bill, with its unprecedented ambition, marks the entry into the decisive phase of the refoundation of Mayotte. Thanks to this text, we are moving resolutely towards real equality for the Mahorais," declared the Minister of Overseas Territories, Manuel Valls, in a press release.

A formal vote on the entire text is scheduled for Tuesday in the National Assembly. Members of Parliament and senators will then seek to agree on a common version, before possible final adoption as early as July.

A few hours before the end of the examination, the deputies unanimously adopted an article providing for social convergence within five years, that is to say a harmonization of the level of social benefits between Mayotte and mainland France.

In France's poorest department, social security benefits are not the same as in the rest of the country. The RSA (Responsible Social Security), for example, is still twice as low as in mainland France.

The Assembly has enshrined in law an initial objective of reaching "87.5%" of the minimum wage by January 1, 2026. According to Manuel Valls, this is intended to "prioritize work."

Several MPs pointed out that the promises of convergence are not new, but have never been kept. The minister attempted to reassure them, stating that this is the first time that this convergence has been enshrined in law.

Others have denounced the five-year horizon, like the French Guiana MP Davy Rimane (LFI) who "cannot understand how we can tell our compatriots in Mayotte to wait any longer."

"Five years will allow us to implement this social convergence in the best possible conditions," replied Mr. Valls, in order, in particular, to "avoid weakening businesses."

The deputies decided to exclude State Medical Aid (AME) from this field, by adopting an amendment from the National Rally, with the support of the government.

Mayotte is the only French department where AME, a system allowing foreigners in an irregular situation to benefit from access to certain care without having to pay upfront, does not apply.

New victories for the RN

The far-right group has won other victories, such as limiting state funding for annual return tickets for high school students studying outside the archipelago to French citizens only.

"It was the absence" of the "common core" in the chamber that allowed "scandalous" and "totally unconstitutional" measures to be adopted, accused Manuel Valls after the vote on this measure.

In the evening, MPs adopted a report annexed to the bill, which lists the state's priorities for Mayotte and the public investments planned between 2025 and 2031, focusing on water, education, health, infrastructure, and security. Nearly €4 billion is planned over the next six years.

Here again, the programmatic section, although non-binding (because it has no normative value), was largely rewritten by the RN. Around forty of its amendments were adopted thanks to a significant mobilization of deputies from Marine Le Pen's group and in the face of almost empty benches in most of the other groups.

"All these deputies have been very, very absent during these several days of debates, which demonstrates their state of mind with regard to our overseas territories," accused RN deputy Yoann Gillet, congratulating himself on having succeeded in reworking a text that was initially "too timid."

Earlier today, MPs removed a measure that is particularly irritating for the Mahorais, which facilitates expropriations in order to allow the construction of certain infrastructures.

The Assembly has enshrined in law the exhaustive census of the population in Mayotte from 2025, a much-anticipated provision on the island.

For years, local officials have been claiming that the population is underestimated, resulting in communities that are less well-resourced than they should be and public services that are overburdened.

The Assembly also gave the green light to several institutional changes, with the transformation of the Mayotte departmental council into a real Assembly.

Earlier in the week, MPs tackled the most controversial measures aimed at "redefining" the archipelago nearly six months after Cyclone Chido: those to combat immigration, particularly from neighboring Comoros, and informal housing, two " scourges" made a priority by the government.

A measure to facilitate the destruction of shantytowns has been adopted. Opponents have warned of the risk of increasing the number of children living on the streets. Another allows minors accompanying an adult subject to a removal order to be placed in a detention zone.

More consensual, the Assembly also validated the abolition, by 2030, of territorial visas in Mayotte, which prevent holders of a Mahoran residence permit from coming to mainland France.