The administrative court of Fort-de-France, which had been seized by the prefect of Martinique, annulled on Thursday a deliberation of the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique (CTM) of 2023 recognizing the Creole language as a co-official language of this Antillean island.
“Article 1 of the deliberation of the Martinique Assembly of May 25, 2023 is annulled,” write the three magistrates in their five-page judgment that AFP was able to consult. Gathered in plenary session in May 2023, a few days after the celebrations of the 175th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Martinique, the elected representatives of the Territorial Assembly adopted a text whose article 1 made Creole the official language of Martinique, just like French.
Guarantor of the control of the legality of the acts of local authorities, the prefect of Martinique, Jean-Christophe Bouvier, had given notice to the CTM to withdraw this deliberation, then filed an appeal before the administrative court of Fort-de-France.
Regional language
In November 2023, the State representative obtained the suspension of this deliberation before the administrative court of appeal of Bordeaux, competent for several overseas jurisdictions, after having been dismissed at first instance by the Martinique court. The CTM then made known its intention to “appeal to the Council of State”.
“The use of French is mandatory for legal entities under public law,” wrote the judges of the Fort-de-France administrative court on Thursday, invoking article 2 of the Constitution and the law of August 4, 1994 relating to the use of the French language. Therefore, “article 1 of the deliberation of May 25, 2023 of the Assembly of Martinique (…) ignores the aforementioned provisions”, add the magistrates.
This cancellation “does not call into question the right of everyone to use Creole” on a daily basis, nor “the status of regional language from which Martinican Creole benefits”, specifies the court in a press release.
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