The resigning minister François-Noël Buffet explains that the drop in prices on January 1, 2025 on 6,000 products sold in Martinique will not be applied.
The resigning Overseas Minister François-Noël Buffet indicated Thursday that the protocol to fight against the high cost of living in Martinique was “suspended” due to censorship by the Barnier government, just like “the billion euros announced for the New -Caledonia”.
“The cost of living protocol is suspended. We will never be able to actually have -20%, on January 1, 2025, on the 6,000 products that were planned,” explained François-Noël Buffet in an interview with the newspaper Ouest-France.
The reduction or even abolition of VAT is also called into question, added the minister, emphasizing: “Since it is not voted on, it does not apply.”
“This suspension will add anxiety and stress to territories which do not need it and which above all aspire to calm and serenity,” he continued.
This protocol was signed on October 16 after six weeks of mobilization launched at the beginning of September by a movement against the high cost of living which degenerated into violence, mainly at night. According to figures from the prefecture, more than 230 vehicles were deliberately burned and dozens of commercial premises were set on fire, vandalized or looted.
“This portends difficulties”
The resigning minister also expressed his concerns regarding New Caledonia, the scene of riots on an unprecedented scale which ravaged the territory from May 13. Thirteen people died and the cost of material damage is estimated at at least 2.2 billion euros by local authorities.
“We are without anything, let's say things as they are. For the moment, everything stops. Today, without a voted budget, there is not the billion euros announced for New Caledonia “And this portends difficulties for a territory which needs significant financial assistance,” noted François-Noël Buffet.
“The government, the provinces and the municipalities will end the year with the aid we have granted them but will start 2025 with a fairly rapid difficulty, of the order of a quarter potentially. Nothing is settled, even though we are part of a logic of support”, he added.
The minister however mentioned “that yesterday (Wednesday), nevertheless – because we obtained the reversal of the parliamentary calendar – we were able to pass the 2024 management law which makes it possible to ensure the aid planned for the New -Caledonia, but only for the year 2024”.
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