The Minister for Overseas Territories begins a four-day visit to New Caledonia this Wednesday, October 16, hit since May by an outbreak of violence which left 13 dead. The climate is calmer today in the archipelago, but it is still there that François-Noël Buffet wanted to go for his very first trip. And it was eagerly awaited by the elected officials of the archipelago.
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One in three employees unemployed or partially unemployed, Social Security which threatens to collapse just like the electricity system ceasing payments, reminds our correspondent in Nouméa, Charlotte Mannevy. The situation described to the minister by Louis Mapou, the president of the local government, is particularly critical: “ They say that we will have to review the retirement of the public and that of the public, that is a subject which requires reflection because it is a profound change. »
Message heard by François-Noël Buffet, who assures him, the State will stand alongside New Caledonians. “ The State is mobilized, it has already been mobilized, and it will be again… given the reconstruction that is necessary. »
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It will still take a little more to convince the Renaissance deputy Nicolas Metzdorf for whom the State has not grasped the full seriousness of the situation. “ What worries me is that budget announcements are expected, but that, as a member of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly, I have not seen much! Perhaps the minister will reassure us by saying that the government will make amendments when examining the budget, but for the moment there is nothing. »
Tomorrow Thursday, all eyes will be on the minister, who must unveil part of his economic support plan. There New Caledoniawhich has already received 400 million euros in state support since May. But the minister should also condition any new aid on the commitment to structural reforms, while until now, the vast majority of aid has been in the form of loans and repayable advances, recalls Agence France presse .
Hence the concern of New Caledonian elected officials, on the eve of the minister’s arrival: “ Putting New Caledonia in debt over the next two generations does not seem to us to be the right way to restore confidence », Writes in a press release the “transpartisan delegation” which recently went to Paris to plead the cause of the archipelago.