Tuesday November 23rd 2021
On Tuesday November 23rd 2021 the annual European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Monitoring Committee was held at the Préfecture de Saint-Barthélemy et Saint-Martin.
Around fifty persons attended, representatives from the Préfecture, the Collectivité, the territorial units, local institutions, the European Commission, the SGAR (General Secretariat for Regional Affairs), the Guadeloupe Region, the ASP (Payments and Services Agency) and Education and Overseas Ministries, more than half of them by videoconference due to the health situation.
Monsieur the Préfet of Saint-Barthélemy et Saint-Martin as the representative of the managing authority presided over the committee with the President of the Collectivité d’Outre Mer de Saint-Martin by his side.
In his introductory remarks, the Prefet recalled the current context of the territory and emphasized the importance of European funding in view of the major challenges facing the territory. In his introductory remarks, the President of the Collectivité expressed his disappointment that such an important committee was held by videoconference, he nevertheless wished to thank the European solidarity and the national authorities for the allocation to the territory of Saint-Martin of 35M€ under the REACT-EU (Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe): an additional financial envelope that aims to contribute to the economic and social recovery of the territory
The committee took stock of the consumption of the three European Funds supervised locally by the Prefecture of Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin, the point of contact for these European Funds in the territory: the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the European Fund for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (EFMAF). The committee also took stock of the fourth fund available on the territory, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) which is implemented through the Gal Leader program managed by the Collectivité.
The various actors of the territory were optimistic about the progress on the programming and the capacity of the territory to consume the 2014-2020 envelopes before the end of the programming on 31/12/2023, aware however of the collective efforts to be made to achieve all the projects programmed and with particular attention to the EAFRD’s programming delays and whose end of programming will occur on 31/12/2022.
The speakers from the European Commission were also keen to emphasize the need for great vigilance in order to meet these deadlines.
