The President of the Community, Louis Mussington, went to Tenerife in the Canary Islands to participate, on November 7 and 8, in the 28th Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions (CPRUP) of Europe.
This year, the conference was organized by the Canary Islands Government which handed over the presidency to the Regional Council of Reunion, for a period of one year. The European institutions were present for this special moment of institutional dialogue with our strategic European partners, the European Commission and the European Parliament. The member states of the ORs, including France in the person of the Minister Delegate for Overseas, Philippe Vigier, as well as the European Economic and Social Council, also made the trip. The Presidents of the ORs closed the internal session with a final declaration addressing to the European institutions several messages on current European policies including that of Louis Mussington who recalled “the importance of a united Europe, united and close to its citizens” , in the run-up to the European elections in June 2024 and the renewal of the European Commission which will take place immediately. The President of the COM highlighted the significant lack of statistical data from which the territory of Saint-Martin suffers, which is lacking to evaluate public policies and prepare operational programs. With the Territorial Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies of Saint-Martin (ITSEE), the President “hopes to be able to work in concert with the French authorities and the services of the European Commission to finally have reliable and official data, to overcome these problematic and be recognized as a European region in its own right. At the heart of strategies to overcome the challenges linked to our unique geography, Louis Mussington calls for "not simply to talk about the assets that are ours, but to take concrete advantage of this potential knowing that this can only be done with the support ambitious, coherent and adapted policies”.
During this 28th CPRUP, the president of the COM was able to exchange bilaterally with the European Commissioner in charge of cohesion, Elisa Ferreira. Subjects covered: cross-border and regional cooperation as well as urgent needs of the territory such as road, airport, sports and drinking water distribution infrastructures. The European Commissioner recalled the financial and technical support available from Europe for the realization of these projects. _VX
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