François-Noël Buffet sets January 1 target for price decline

The Minister for Overseas Territories clarified on Tuesday during a visit to Martinique the timetable for the reduction of 6,000 basic necessities recorded in October, ensuring that it should take place in January 2025. “The objective is, as of January 1, -20% on 6,000 products” in this island in the Antilles shaken since the beginning of September by tensions due to the high cost of living, said François-Noël Buffet during a press conference at the prefecture of Martinique, after a long meeting with the prefect , numerous elected officials and players in the economic world, including the bosses of local distribution groups.

The articles concerned are “of various nature”underlined the minister, but are considered “basic necessities”. With these statements, Mr. Buffet confirmed the broad outlines of the protocol to combat the high cost of living signed on October 16 by the prefect and the thirty local interlocutors who came to meet him on Tuesday. This agreement was concluded after six weeks of a mobilization against the high cost of living launched on September 1 by a local association, the Rally for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC). This collective rejected the protocol on prices and has stuck to its position ever since.

Tense face-to-face

Arriving Monday evening in Martinique for a four-day visit, Mr. Buffet said he “willing to meet everyone” on the island, including the leaders of the RPPRAC, who returned to the department on Monday after a ten-day stay in Paris to organize demonstrations. Later in the evening, the leaders of the collective burst onto the grounds of the prefect's private residence and demanded to meet the minister. After a tense face-to-face on his doorstep, the state representative refused to grant RPPRAC's request. “The meeting was not requested, it was not formalized”argued Mr. Buffet, denouncing an attitude “almost prohibitive” activists.

Furthermore, a stroll by the minister in the streets of Fort-de-France planned for Tuesday was canceled in the morning, because the meeting in the prefecture was “well past deadlines”justified Mr. Buffet who however assured that his other field visits would be maintained. Since September, Martinique has been affected by a movement against the high cost of living which degenerated with urban riots and violence, mainly at night, during which, according to figures from the prefecture, more than 230 vehicles were deliberately burned and dozens of premises businesses were burned, vandalized or looted.