MPs almost unanimously refuse to facilitate expropriations

The National Assembly on Tuesday, January 21, almost unanimously deleted a provision from the emergency bill to rebuild Mayotte which, under the guise of promoting development or rehousing projects, would have facilitated expropriations in the island ravaged by cyclone Chido.

By 166 votes for and only one against (45 elected officials abstained), the deputies deleted the article from the bill by which the government would have been authorized to order “the definitive expropriation of land rights in Mayotte, with the aim of facilitating it” construction sites.

For the rapporteur, the MP for Mayotte, Estelle Youssouffa (LIOT), “the State has been trying to get its hands on land for several decades” in the archipelago, and “the goal of this article was really to be able to expropriate in Mayotte to build anything and carry out projects that have nothing to do with the cyclone”.

An assertion strongly denied by the Minister for Overseas Territories, Manuel Valls who tried to explain, without success, that this provision was necessary due to local specificities which make « quasi impossible » the identification of the owners of certain land. “Many Mahorais continued informal transfers of property in a completely legal manner but untraceable for the public authorities”he argued.

Guarantee greater solicitation of local businesses

With its project, the government did not intend “expropriate or occupy land without compensation”but avoid“be blocked by the definitive identification of the owners, which may take several years before operations can be launched”pleaded the former prime minister.

The detailed examination of this emergency bill for Mayotte, the first text of the Bayrou government to be debated in the hemicycle, was completed on Tuesday evening, before a solemn vote scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Despite the criticism, there is little doubt about its adoption given the imperative to accelerate the reconstruction of the archipelago.

The text mainly includes provisions aimed at deviating from town planning rules and facilitating the financing of reconstruction. It also contains social measures, such as tax facilities or reductions in contributions. MEPs thus approved several amendments aimed at ensuring that local companies are more called upon to take part in the reconstruction work. They notably specified that a third of public contracts should be reserved for local SMEs.

In order to encourage donations from individuals intended for the reconstruction of the archipelago, they also increased from 1,000 to 3,000 euros the maximum amount of donations which can give rise to a tax reduction increased to 75%.

The migration question enters the debate

However, no article concerns the migration issue, which must be addressed in a subsequent law, as Mr. Valls repeated. The subject, however, entered the debates on Tuesday evening, sparking lively exchanges around an amendment tabled by the environmentalist MP Dominique Voynet, who knows Mayotte from having directed the Regional Health Agency there.

M^me Voynet proposed that the residence permits of foreigners legally in Mayotte before Cyclone Chido be “tacitly renewed”due to logistical difficulties which prevent the prefecture from processing renewal files.

This proposal aroused the anger of M^me Youssouffa. This “grandiose call of air” amounts to saying to the Mahorais: “You are on your knees, there is nothing that works anymore, but we must continue to welcome”she asserted. For reasons “more technical than political”the government also said it was opposed to this amendment, which was ultimately rejected by 140 votes to 85.