the emergency bill adopted in committee at the National Assembly

This is the first legislative act of François Bayrou's government. The emergency bill for Mayotte was adopted, on the night of Tuesday January 14 to Wednesday January 15, in committee at the National Assembly. The text aims to accelerate the rules and procedures in town planning to allow the rapid reconstruction of the archipelago devastated by Cyclone Chido in mid-December. It also contains more temporary social measures.

During the debates that began on Monday afternoon, as tropical storm Dikeledi moved away, the Minister for Overseas Territories, Manuel Valls – who was making his return to the parliamentary cauldron on this occasion – stressed that the text was not that one “first response” to the multifaceted crisis hitting the Indian Ocean archipelago.

The rapporteur of the text, the MP for Mayotte Estelle Youssouffa (LIOT), attacked in her introductory remarks a text “without real ambition”elaborated “without consultation with local elected officials or parliamentarians”and who remains “largely silent on essential subjects such as immigration”. The second MP for Mayotte, Anchya Bamana (National Rally), said she ” angry “ against a bill “which misses its subject”by not allowing us to fight against “migratory submergence”.

Several MPs also criticized the government for trying to have measures to combat slums adopted by amendment, exposing itself to the risk of inadmissibility. These amendments were effectively rejected, because they were deemed to have no direct or indirect link with the text.

The government has “nothing to hide” regarding the cyclone’s toll

Manuel Valls recalled that another draft “program law” containing longer-term measures was planned for March. A bill aimed at restricting land rights in Mayotte will also be examined on February 6, providing for extending the duration of residence of parents for their children's access to French nationality.

An amendment from former Minister of the Environment Dominique Voynet was adopted, requesting that the government submit within one month after the promulgation of the law an exhaustive assessment of the disaster, particularly on the human level.

The government supported it, with Mr. Valls emphasizing that the State had not “nothing to hide”and regretting the « accusations » made during the general policy declaration of the Prime Minister by the speaker of the National Rally. MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy vehemently accused the government of « ment[ir] about everything in Mayotte »and in particular “on the seriousness of the human toll” of Cyclone Chido. The text must be examined in the Hemicycle on January 20. The Senate plans to take it up on February 3.