The Assembly adopts the emergency bill for the reconstruction of Mayotte

The first text from the Bayrou government to pass the test of the hemicycle, it was defended by Manuel Valls, the Minister for Overseas Territories, who was making his grand return to the arena of the National Assembly on this occasion.

The adoption of this text, which evades sensitive migration issues, was hardly in doubt, particularly in view of the imperative to accelerate the reconstruction of the ravaged French department.

"It is only a beginning, a technical text which is only a primer for reconstruction," declared the rapporteur and Mahoran MP Estelle Youssouffa (Liot group) before the vote.

The bill was adopted with the votes of 446 deputies against two, from the ranks of the Insoumis, the rest of the group abstaining. The Ecologists made the same choice, denouncing the addition of "dross inspired by the xenophobic obsessions of the extreme right".

Partly rewritten by the Assembly, it mainly contains relaxations of town planning rules and some social measures, such as tax breaks or reductions in contributions.

It is only a "first response", argued the minister, who announced another much more ambitious text by March, to "rebuild Mayotte".

"Let's not lie to ourselves, if the cyclone ravaged Mayotte, it above all revealed and exacerbated the problems, the difficulties, the calamities that already existed," stressed Manuel Valls, recalling that 77% of the population lives below the poverty line.

In addition to poverty, he cited illegal housing and clandestine immigration as two scourges which are "gnawing away" at the department and promised that the migration issue would be "a key part" of the upcoming text.

"Build back better"

Auditioned by the Senate's Economic Affairs Committee after the adoption of the text in the Assembly, Manuel Valls announced that he would go to Mayotte next week to "establish our priorities", saying he wanted "we to move forward quickly" in the reconstruction.

At the start of the examination, the two Mahoran deputies, Estelle Youssouffa and Anchya Bamana (RN) had castigated a text drawn up "without consultation" with the Mahorans and which misses the main subject: "migratory submersion".

Absent from the text, illegal immigration often imposed itself as a backdrop to the debates, which were generally rather muted. It then gave rise to lively exchanges.

As when a measure aimed at making the sale of sheet metal conditional on the presentation of an identity document in particular to prevent the reconstruction of shanty towns was adopted.

The left, and in particular the Green MP Dominique Voynet, saw it as a "shocking" measure in view of the thousands of people, whether in a regular situation or not, who find themselves "without a roof over their heads".

Against the advice of the government, elected officials from opposing sides have sometimes reached an agreement. As when they deleted an article aimed at facilitating expropriations.

The measure, a source of great tension for the Mahorais, could however be rewritten and discussed again in the Senate, which will take up the text on February 3. "We must try to see how we can remove the doubts, the questions, the queries, the fears" on this issue, Manuel Valls declared before the senators.

A broad consensus was reached around provisions ensuring that Mahoran companies will not be ousted from the reconstruction process. A third of public markets will have to be reserved for local SMEs.

The Assembly also approved measures to accelerate the reconstruction of schools, which were badly affected by the cyclone, making the State responsible for this in place of local authorities until December 31, 2027.

Teachers in the archipelago returned to school, a week before their students on Monday. A return to school that has been postponed several times, while around forty establishments have not been repaired or are still welcoming disaster victims.

The deputies added provisions to the text to ensure that schools have several access points to drinking water or ventilation systems to reduce heat. Because it is not just a question of "rebuilding quickly, but of rebuilding better", stressed Philippe Naillet (PS).

Before the programme law announced in March by Manuel Valls, the Assembly will again consider Mayotte on February 6, with a bill from the right aiming to restrict birthright citizenship there.

The text, which is expected to spark heated discussions, plans to extend the period of residence required by parents for their children to obtain French nationality. The government has said it is in favour of this.