President Louis Mussington in Brussels

The President of the Collectivité of Saint-Martin, Louis MUSSINGTON, went to Brussels on November 17 and 18, 2025, to participate in two major meetings for the Outermost Regions of Europe, of which Saint-Martin is a part.

President Louis Mussington participated in a roundtable discussion on Monday, November 17, organized by the Guadeloupe Region in its capacity as Chair of the Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions (CPRUP), to celebrate the Conference's 30th anniversary. At this event, the presidents and representatives of the nine Outermost Regions, as well as representatives of the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the French, Spanish, and Portuguese Member States, reviewed three decades of work within the CPRUP in defending the interests of our overseas territories. The meeting also aimed to discuss future prospects in the context of upcoming interinstitutional negotiations on the future European Union budget. President Mussington emphasized the achievements of the Outermost Regions over the years and the need to strengthen their role in the future European budget.

Furthermore, on the same day the Presidents met behind closed doors to discuss the political orientations of the Conference in response to the legislative proposals of the Commission and thus adopted and signed a joint political Declaration.

On Tuesday, November 17, the President attended the High-Level Forum for the ORs organised by the European Commission at the initiative of the European Executive Vice-President in charge of cohesion and reforms, Mr Raffaele FITTO.

This Forum was a powerful moment to deliver political messages, at a time when the Commission is preparing to renew its European strategy for the outermost regions and to negotiate the next programming period 2028-2034.

President Mussington stressed the need to maintain a constructive and ongoing political dialogue with all European partners. He then shared his deep concerns, shared with the other outermost regions (ORs), regarding the Commission's legislative proposals, which " represent a significant, even unprecedented, setback for our regions by drastically reducing the scope of Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU )." Indeed, the Commission proposes to combine the funds for cohesion policy (ERDF and ESF+), the Common Agricultural Policy (EAFRD), and the Common Fisheries Policy (EMFF) into a single fund developed at the national level, to the detriment of a regional approach. This reform, combined with the reduction in the budget allocated to these policies and the absence of budget envelopes specifically reserved for the ORs, would limit the impact of cohesion policy in these territories and is therefore a cause for serious concern.

Faced with the challenges of catching up in infrastructure and essential services for the population (drinking water, roads, port and airport infrastructure, economic development, social cohesion and high cost of living), the President recalled the importance of a " tailor-made and differentiated approach for the outermost regions supported by Article 349 of the TFEU, not only to better adapt European policies to their particular realities, but also to consolidate genuine normative coherence in their implementation for our regions".

The President of Saint-Martin finally indicated that the future European strategy “ should reflect the strong expectations of our populations through the adoption of concrete and operational measures”.

The President concluded his speech by reiterating his determination to defend the interests of the outermost regions and our populations to guarantee them genuine equality of opportunity.