President Gibbs is the first sitting President of the Collectivité to have participated in the EU monitoring committee meeting.
The fifth plenary meeting of the EU programme monitoring committee was held in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe.
MARIGOT–President Daniel Gibbs participated in the fifth plenary meeting of the European programme monitoring committee at Hôtel de Région de Basse-Terre on Wednesday, July 4.
He co-chaired this plenary meeting with Regional Council of Guadeloupe Second Vice-President and former Overseas Minister Marie-Luce Penchard, Departmental Council Vice-President Josette Borel-Lincertin and Regional Affairs Secretary-General Aurore Le Bonnec representing on this occasion Préfet Philippe Gustin.
A European Commission delegation comprising Pierre Dirlewanger (Unit France DG Regio), Xavier Godard (Unit France DG Employment), and Christophe Cazenave-Pin (DG Agri) was also present.
The Collectivité noted in its release that this was the first time a Territorial Council of St. Martin President has participated in a plenary meeting of the Monitoring Committee in Guadeloupe. The plenary meetings held in St. Martin in the past preceded the official meeting of the Monitoring Committee in Guadeloupe.
It was essential the Collectivité of St. Martin be present and well-represented, with major decisions for the territory on the agenda. The plenary session followed the technical meeting held in St. Martin earlier this week.
The main purpose of this fifth monitoring programme was to amend the two European Regional Development Funds and European Social Funds (ERDF-ESF) operational programmes managed by the Regional Council and the State. It also provided an opportunity to take stock of progress in the implementation of the various programmes hosting the other European structural and investment funds.
With regard specifically to St. Martin, the revision of the 2014-2020 State Operational Programme (OP) which specifically concerns the ERDF St. Martin component has been approved by the monitoring committee and its official submission to the European Commission bodies will take place in the coming days.
The objective of this amendment is to enable the ERDF to contribute both to the island’s reconstruction effort and to the revival of economic activity. The opportunity offered by the revision of the General Regulation on the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESFI) on July 4, 2017, to create a reconstruction axis must not be missed.
In his speech, President Gibbs indicated that “this new axis must, above all, provide an additional response to the colossal challenges of reconstruction and rehabilitation of water and sanitation networks, our schools and community, social, cultural and sports facilities.”
Thus, 12 million euros will be devoted to this post-Irma reconstruction axis. It is also important to specify that operations supported by the ERDF under this axis will be eligible for an exceptional grant rate of 95 per cent.
This amendment to the State OP should also make it possible to focus a large proportion of ERDF assistance on the reconstruction of hotel accommodation and support for investment projects in tourism products.
Added Gibbs: “Despite the difficult context of the reconstruction of our island, I remain determined to place tourism at the heart of the development of the territory. The 2017-2027 territorial development and tourism development plan adopted by the territorial council last November has notably made the immediate reconstruction of the high-end accommodation park a sine qua non condition for the resumption of tourism activity and more generally for economic recovery.”
Finally, Gibbs took the opportunity of this meeting to reassure the partners by specifying that all efforts will be combined as of this year to avoid any loss or reduction of the ESFI envelopes allocated to our territories.
Finally, he thanked the representatives of the European Commission for their sincere support and constant commitment to serving the Overseas Communities.
The Collectivité of St. Martin has been leading the association of the French outermost regions (ORs) since April and will take over the Presidency of the Conference of Presidents of the ORs by the end of the year. At the time of the publication of the financial and regulatory proposals for the 2020 period, the local government will be in the forefront of the decisive battles for the future of the outermost regions.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/78554-president-gibbs-attends-meeting-of-eu-programme-monitoring-committee
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