Marine Le Pen says she wants “listen” the Mahorais. The leader of the deputies of the National Rally, several times a candidate in the presidential election, is traveling to Mayotte at the beginning of January, three weeks after the passage of Cyclone Chido which ravaged the poorest department in France.
Already, Friday January 3, the deputy RN Thomas Ménage wanted to show that his party was at the bedside of the Mahorais. In Franceinfo's 8:30 a.m., he assured that the RN would ensure that the government did what was necessary to rebuild Mayotte. He also wanted to recall “that last year, at the time of the finance bill, we tabled an amendment of 100 million euros for access to water in Overseas Territories and in particular in Mayotte, and that all political groups voted against. True or False?
The RN did table an amendment to facilitate access to water in Overseas Territories, both in 2023 for the 2024 draft budget and in 2024 for the 2025 draft budget, but it was not 100 million euros, it was half as much.
Gard MP Yoann Gillet, who tabled these amendments for two consecutive years, requested the creation of a “global plan for the right of access to water in the Overseas Territories” worth 50 million euros. It was examined in substance in the Finance Committee (amendment II-CF1915) and in the Law Committee which had been asked for an opinion (amendment II-CL283).
However, it is important to point out that the RN was not the best bidder. The Socialist Party had tabled an amendment to the 2025 draft budget for an emergency plan for the right of access to water in the Overseas Territories, which was more ambitious: 100 million euros (amendment II-CF2528) . La France insoumise had proposed even more: 500 million euros (amendment II-CF1016).
The RN amendment tabled in 2024 for 2025 was rejected in both the Finance Committee and the Law Committee and was therefore not examined in the hemicycle. On the other hand, it is not possible to know whether all the parties represented in these committees voted against these amendments as a single block, because the archives of the National Assembly website do not detail the votes in committee.
On the other hand, they provide access to the reports of the debates in these commissions. These reports provide few direct explanations for the rejections of the RN amendments, but they provide more information on the reasons why the two left-wing amendments were not adopted.
The France Insoumise amendment “fell” in the Finance Committee, because it could no longer be financed. He planned to take 500 million euros from the Overseas Employment program to redirect them towards this emergency plan for access to water. However, the rebellious amendment was examined after several other amendments which had already largely taken sums from the Overseas Employment program. The emergency plan could no longer be financed in this way. The RN amendment planned to finance its plan in the same way.
That of the Socialist Party was withdrawn after the adoption of another amendment which planned to add nearly 11 million euros to the health, social, youth culture and sports sectors of the Overseas Territories, to compensate for the initial drop in budget planned by the government in its finance bill.
Note, however, that the finance committee retained an amendment from Christian Baptiste, socialist deputy from Guadeloupe, who proposed paying 10 million euros to the Joint Union for the management of water and sanitation in Guadeloupe , whose budget was initially reduced in the finance bill. This union is under pressure from the State due to accounting “failures”, according to the Guadeloupe prefecture, while the water supply on the island is notoriously poor.
Note also that Yoann Gillet had tabled the same amendment so that it could be examined in a public session in the Assembly, but that it could not be examined.
Finally, note that, the 2025 budget having been censored by the deputies, none of this will apply a priori. Unless this is reintroduced in the 2025 budget which will ultimately be adopted.
The year before, in 2023, Yoann Gillet had also tabled an amendment to the finance bill to create a plan for access to water in the Overseas Territories worth 50 million euros. (amendment II-354). This time, it was debated in the hemicycle, but it was not accepted. The details of the vote are also not available on the analyzes of the Assembly polls.
The RN deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy had also tabled an appeal amendment to create an “Exceptional Fund for water investments in Guadeloupe” of 150 million euros (II-3421). It had in fact been rejected by all the parties with the exception of a deputy Liot who had voted for, according to the analysis of the ballot.
However, the report of the debates of Monday, November 6, 2023 allows us to learn that, at that time, the deputies had retained another amendment which proposed to release 500 million euros to renovate the pipelines in Overseas Territories. They explained that they had rejected the two RN amendments by this vote. The left, which had also tabled amendments on water overseas, then withdrew them.
Finally, according to Outre-Mer La 1ère, the measure was not retained in the budget adopted by 49.3.
