The former Minister of Overseas, from 2012 to 2014, and PS senator from Guadeloupe, Victorin Lurel, denounces Monday July 4 on franceinfo, “an obvious setback”, “a punishment” for the overseas territories after their attachment to the Ministry of the Interior.
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franceinfo: Is the disappearance of a ministry dedicated to overseas territories a sanction?
Victorin Lurel: Obviously this is a regression. The Ministry of Overseas was a Ministry of State with General de Gaulle. We all fought for years to obtain a full-fledged ministry participating in the Council of Ministers. This is an obvious setback. But it looks like a punitive sanction, an electoral punishment after the electoral beating inflicted in the first and second rounds. Relegating the ministry to a delegated minister means that it is first of all the order that will prevail and for the rest, we will advise. Finally, it is no longer development, it is no longer equality, it is no longer listening. First is the order. Nothing can justify this decline. To say that we will depend on the Ministry of the Interior means that we will be sent the GIGN or the RAID at the slightest social movement. Each movement will first be treated under the prism of repression. The signal sent is very very bad. The president has not learned the lessons of the electoral electroshock and as a response, he makes us depend on the Ministry of the Interior which is that of security and order first.
First order according to you, does this mean that we put aside all the other problems such as health, purchasing power, education?
It is in any case the first signal that the ultramarines retain. In response to a scathing disavowal, you are reinstated within the Ministry of the Interior. Since Nicolas Sarkozy, we hadn’t done that. Thus, we return to the status quo ante, with probably a kind of displayed contempt. I say it very clearly, it is a bad signal which is sent to us.
What do you think of the arrival of the former prefect Jean-François Carenco as Minister Delegate for Overseas?
We know Jean-François Carenco very well. He was prefect of Guadeloupe, he maintained very good relations with each other. He knew how to maintain the dialogue. Even when he was chairman of the Energy Regulation Commission, he kept in touch with overseas territories. He knows the issues, he knows the people, he knows the files, he knows the territories. He was also prefect of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. So there, there is no worry about the man, he will be well received. No one can dispute its quality and experience.
This appointment of Jean-François Carenco is therefore good news for the Overseas Territories?
You know, when you are overseas minister, if you don’t have the ear of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, you can be a minister. “stunted”. If Mr. Darmanin does everything and arbitrates in the last instance, whatever the intrinsic qualities of Jean-François Carenco, we risk having some concerns, in terms of leeway, in terms of budgetary and financial catch-up, in terms of consideration granted to these remote territories. It’s definitely not a good signal.