The Minister Delegate for Overseas Jean-François Carenco met Wednesday and Thursday with employers and unions in Martinique and Guadeloupe to prepare discussions scheduled for September on the cost of living and purchasing power.
Its minister responsible, Gérald Darmanin, announced as soon as the new government was appointed at the beginning of the month that it would bring together in September companies, distributors and producers who operate in the overseas territories to “very greatly reduce the cost of living”.
Prices for moderate necessities
During the first stage of his tour on Wednesday, Jean-François Carenco proposed extending to other products the “price quality shield” (BQP), a regulatory system put in place since 2012 to moderate price increases in some basic necessities. “The public authorities will take measures together so that these prices are blocked for a year,” he said in an interview with local radio RCI.
The subject is particularly sensitive in Martinique, where the level of food prices is 38.2% higher than in metropolitan France, according to INSEE.
The Minister Delegate has undertaken to lead this fight in Parliament, within the framework of the bill on purchasing power currently under discussion. “I contacted elected officials from Martinique, Guadeloupe and Reunion to define amendments together”, he assured, “I understand that the ultramarines say: we are poorer than the metropolis, we must do more and more specific”.
Appropriate measures
Thursday, Jean-François Carenco clarified his desire to expand the BQP during his meetings with representatives of the Guadeloupean economic world. “We must better hold prices, better involve consumer associations in the choice of products to put in”, he pleaded.
“We need more products in the BQP and, in the same product ranges, we need more different products”, wished Olivier Serva, deputy of the first constituency of Guadeloupe. “We have to go from 150 to almost 1000 products (…) we are talking about food but that represents 30% of a household budget”, he recalled, referring to “petrol or electricity, or even the cost of transport and logistics freight”.
For his part, the president of the Union of Guadeloupe Businesses (Medef), Bruno Blandin, defended before the minister measures “truly adapted to our territories”, particularly in terms of employment. The employers want in particular measures to reduce or exempt social security contributions on job creation or the salaries of executives. In Guadeloupe, unemployment hits 18% of the working population, according to the latest INSEE statistics.