Frankly, at the Ministry of Overseas France, Mayotte will always remain a pest! And so will our friends in Reunion. On France Info Friday morning, Sébastien Lecornu, tenant of the rue Oudinot, declared peremptorily that compelling reasons were no longer necessary to travel overseas from 9 June. This is damn good news, because it was unbearable to see Mayotte and Reunion treated differently from Corsica and the West Indies. In Mayotte, the South African variant was the ideal excuse to restrain us and prevent us from travelling. The history of asking the prefect for permission to travel (which has fortunately been abolished) was already an obstacle to freedom of movement, which is enshrined in the marble of the Constitution. The French were not fooled, all these restrictions imposed under the guise of a pandemic allowed the government to keep the good people of France on a short leash… But the French overseas departments and territories were entitled to special treatment, especially Mayotte and Reunion. The only problem is that while the imperative reasons were indispensable as long as the state of health emergency was in effect, the lifting of this state of emergency by decree on 2 June put a de facto end to the imperative reasons. However, despite the state of health emergency, there was no need for a compelling reason to travel to Corsica, a PCR test was sufficient. Why should Mayotte be restricted more than the other island departments? Mayotte, with the obligation to declare its trip to the prefecture six days before the flight, to have a compelling reason and a negative PCR test, with the added bonus of a compulsory seven-day stay on both the outward and return journeys, was therefore entitled to truly special treatment, and we still wonder why. Because of the South African variant? A nice excuse, which doesn’t hold at all, since it arrived in metropolitan France too… In short, Mayotte and Reunion were particularly stigmatised. Lecornu’s announcement of the end of compelling reasons on France Infos on Friday was therefore finally a “relief”. But then it was all over! Aware of having made a blunder, he asked his services for an express backtracking to say in a convoluted communiqué that he had screwed up but of course without acknowledging it, since it was the good people of Mayotte and Reunion who had misunderstood. Mr. Minister, aren’t you taking the piss out of us? To make it look good, he explained that only those who have been fully vaccinated, i.e. who have had both doses, can travel with only one negative PCR test, and therefore without any compelling reason, and are exempted from the septaine. For the others, the compelling reason remains mandatory as well as the septaine. No kidding? But why not do the same with the Corsicans? There is no reason after all. But I’m not sure that the Corsicans would let themselves be muzzled in this way…
By Denis Herrmann