Martinique: The local authority defies the law to make Creole an official language

The local assembly had made Creole the island's second official language, which didn't please the prefect.

Cultural defense - The local assembly had made Creole the island's second official language, which didn't please the prefect.

It's almost a rebellion. The President of the Executive Council of the Collectivité Territoriale de Martinique has refused to obey a request from the Prefect to withdraw the deThe President of the Executive Council of the Collectivité Territoriale de Martinique has refused to comply with a request from the Prefect to withdraw the local assembly's decision to make Creole the island's official language "on an equal footing with French". Serge Letchimy, the head of the local executive, objected to a request from the island's prefect within the framework of the control of legality, as "this refusal is an act of marronnage, a declaration of dissent in the contemporary but historic debate we are opening between imprescriptible natural rights and the right to equality", he announced in a press release on Sunday evening.

On May 25, three days after the celebrations marking the 175th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Martinique, the elected members of theAssemblée de Martinique adopted a text whose article 1 makes Creole the official language of Martinique on an equal footing with French.

The deliberation "is vitiated by illegality".

On July 25, Jean-Christophe Bouvier, Prefect of Martinique, who is responsible for overseeing the legality of local authority deliberations, asked the President of the executive body of Martinique to withdraw the deliberation.sident de l'organe exécutif de la CTM to withdraw this article, reminding him that "the first paragraph of Article 2 of the Constitution of August 4, 1958 stipulates that : "The language of the Republic is French". For the Prefect, the deliberation "is vitiated by illegality", justifying his request to "kindly proceed with its withdrawal".

The president of the CTM executive council also anticipated the prefect's referral to the administrative court: "I know that we are already condemned by the judicial institutions, which will not recognize the legitimacy of this struggle. However, it is with dignity that I will accept this condemnation", he states in his press release.

Since his return to power in June 2021, Serge Letchimy has repeatedly expressed his intention to change relations between France and its overseas territories, particularly Martinique. He was the instigator of the Fort-de-France Appeal in May 2022, which led to the opening of congresses of elected representatives in Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana. During these meetings, possible institutional changes for these territories were discussed. In February 2023, the Martinique local authority also adopted the red-green-black flag, the symbol of independence movements, as its regional emblem.