The 2025 Budget project has sparked much opposition in La Réunion Island and other former colonies integrated into the French Republic in the form of departments. Cuts in public spending and the questioning of exemptions from social security contributions have been the subject of interventions by elected officials and professional organizations. They are calling for La Réunion to be excluded from these measures. This situation is indicative of the crisis of a system that is running out of steam: French neocolonialism.
French neocolonialism in La Réunion is primarily aimed at preserving France’s interests in our country without developing it. This is why for over 50 years, Paris has been implementing measures to buy social peace by trying to preserve an established order.

At the origins of the crisis

One of the bases of this system is overpayment. By granting all civil servants the colonial supplement regime specific to a hundred or so state agents falling under the so-called metropolitan framework, Paris wanted to create a social class independent of the economic situation of the country in which it lives, and with sufficient purchasing power to pay for the high cost of living caused by the importation of Western consumer society. This social class replaced the factory owners and big planters at the head of most communities, as well as in the representation of La Reunion Island in the National Assembly and the Senate.
These massive public transfers allowed French companies to sell their products in La Reunion Island at a higher price than in France. For the majority of the population not benefiting from the overpayment, Paris did not go further than social equality with France. The excessively high cost of living became the spark that caused major social movements. To respond to this, Paris used one-off measures to buy social peace. Added to this were a number of exceptional measures.
For example, exemptions from social security contributions are used to compensate for the fact that in La Réunion, the minimum wage must be the same as in France, while on our island, the cost of production is higher, in particular because of the import of inputs from very distant countries. Paris has also refused to cover the overpayment of all employees. This explains why, in La Réunion, nearly 80% of the employees of these institutions are not permanent employees and are therefore paid less than their counterparts in the State and hospital public services. Paris has also decided not to finance the overpayment of all private sector salaries and social benefits.

Reunionese asked to pay the consequences of the financial crisis in Paris

It is in this context that significant budget cuts are announced. Municipalities and urban communities are thus asked to make an effort of 36 million euros. The application of such a measure can only accentuate the crisis. Local authorities play a role as social shock absorbers in two areas. First of all for employment, they participate in the social treatment of unemployment by recruiting subsidized jobs co-financed by the State. Public procurement is also essential for the revenues of construction companies. The latter have also demonstrated this year to demand that local authorities withdraw from projects to compensate for the failure of private procurement.
The 2025 Budget illustrates the crisis in France’s public finances, a consequence of many years of tax gifts for the richest. The proposed restrictions illustrate his desire to reduce the resources devoted to the purchase of social peace in La Réunion and in the former colonies integrated into the French Republic in the form of departments.

A Reunionese project to overcome the neocolonial system

Faced with such a situation, it is urgent to overcome the neocolonial system that is stifling the country’s development in favor of transforming public transfers into private benefits massively repatriated to France.
The most credible alternative is a change in relations between La Réunion and Paris. It is up to the Reunionese to build a widely shared project capable of responding to the problems caused by this system. It is up to Paris to provide financial and institutional support for the proposals included in La Réunion development project, for example in the form of a program law. This requires Paris to trust the Reunionese, and for Reunionese to act responsibly.

M.M.