Did you know that France is the country with the largest maritime exclusive economic zone
in the world?
Take a look at this map for instance.
We are talking about no less than 11,691,000 square kilometers of sea in which France has
full exclusivity to exploit fishing, mineral and energy resources.
These are waters in which it can basically do whatever it wants.
And don’t tell me that it is not surprising that a country like France is the country
with the most exploitable waters in the world.
If we were to compare the area of these waters to a country, we could say that they are larger
than the United States and 18 times the size of France’s European landmass.
Of course, more than 96% of all these waters, spread across the globe, are located beyond
the country on the European mainland that we all identify as France.
Don't you find it curious?
surprising?
Obviously, the question we are all wondering is, where does such a maritime domain come
from?
Well, I think it is no secret that France has a huge and intense colonial past.
A past thanks to which it still retains territories scattered all over the globe.
America, Africa, Oceania, and even a huge exclusive territory for research in Antarctica.
With the exception of Asia, the French have territories on every continent on the planet.
And since each coastal territory is entitled to some 200 miles of exclusive economic zone,
the result is as we have just described.
These overseas territories are, so to speak, strategic enclaves that give the French Republic
a vast international projection.
Let’s not forget that, in addition to the issue of exclusive economic zones, these overseas
territories are also strategic for many other reasons.
Let's say that these places allow France to extend its military activity throughout the
world and also reinforce its geopolitical influence.
For example, they make France the only European power to own territories in the Indo-Pacific.
They are the key to France being the country with the third largest military footprint
in the world after the United States and Russia.
Another example is Kouru (PRON: Kúggu), in French Guiana, where the spaceport of ESA,
the European NASA, is located and from where all the European agency's space rockets are
launched.
Of course, at this point there are a few questions we can ask:
To what extent are these territories part of France?
Do they have a similar standard of living?
Are they happy to remain part of the French republic?
How does Paris treat them?
VisualPolitik fans, in this video we will try to get to know the most unknown side of
France a little better, and for that we will take a look at four of its most important
overseas territories.
This is what remains of the former French empire.
Listen up.
(LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ?, FRATERNITÉ)
If anyone thought that the official motto of the French Republic was being followed
to the letter...
I'm sorry to tell you that you are quite wrong.
At least as far as "égalité", "equality" is concerned when we consider the almost three
million French people who do not live in metropolitan France in old Europe, but thousands of kilometers
away.
French people who, in many cases, are starting to get angry with their situation.
And there is no shortage of reasons.
[But before we get into that, just a quick aside, have you heard about our exclusive
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We’ll leave the link in the description]
But having said that, let's move on to today's topic.
And if you like, let's start by looking at the wallet.
If there is one thing that characterizes the French overseas territories, it is their poor
socioeconomic conditions.
In overseas France, poverty rates are much higher than in metropolitan France.
For example, while in European France the percentage of the population below the poverty
line is around 15%, in the other territories of the republic the figure soars.
For example, in Mayotte the poverty rate stands at 77.3%, in French Guiana at 52.9%, in Guadeloupe
at 34.5% and in Martinique at 28.6%.
But, since poverty rates are quite relative, what happens if we look, for example, at GDP
per capita?
Are there also differences?
Well...
The truth is, yes.
The wealthiest French overseas territory, Reunion Island, has a GDP per capita of about
$25,000, while the poorest department of metropolitan France, Centre-Val de Loire, has a GDP per
capita of about $31,500.
That is 26% higher.
To top it off, these places are highly dependent on euros emanating from France's public budget
and, more recently, also from European Union funds.
This is a situation that has much to do with the lack of economic freedoms and decentralization
endured by these territories.
Unlike London, which has historically given full freedom to its overseas territories,
Paris has taken a very different path.
It makes no sense that the bulk of the laws, including tax legislation, trade rules and
much of France's regulations apply in places as remote, as different and in some cases
as poor as the overseas territories.
Yes, it is true that in the year 2000 a small-scale decentralization was carried out, which means
that these territories have some rules and laws that are different from the metropolis
and also have some tax incentives.
But it has not been nearly enough.
Yes, in some cases, such as New Caledonia, they even have their own legislative chambers,
but apart from a few exceptions, everything ends up going through Paris.
This is something that goes back a long way.
In fact these territories also have a very low degree of commercial integration with
any entity other than France.
A situation inherited from the principle of exclusivity that forbade French colonies any
commercial relationship with foreign countries, thus leaving the metropolis a commercial monopoly
over its colonies.
Their economic backwardness is also related to their slave-owning past, which resulted
in an enormous hyperspecialization of the economies of these places in low value-added
activities such as the production of sugarcane, bananas, cotton or cocoa.
But the economic gap is not the only gap between French people that we are going to find.
We are talking about significant political and social differences that, in some cases,
are even threatening France's own sovereignty.
Listen up.
(NEW CALEDONIA: INDEPENDENCE IN SIGHT?)
New Caledonia is a French territory located in an archipelago of dozens of islands in
that wonder known as the South Pacific.
Along with French Polynesia, they are the two French territories with the most autonomy
and the only two listed by the UN as non-self-governing territories that, in one way or another, are
pending decolonization.
That is, they are pending a referendum to decide whether to opt for independence or
to remain within France with a certain degree of self-government.
The case of New Caledonia is special.
In 1998, the Nouméa Accord was concluded, transferring certain powers from the French
government to this outlying French collectivity.
And it was also agreed to hold several independence referendums that took place in 2018, 2020
and 2021.
Referendums in which, by the way, the overwhelming majority voted in favor of remaining part
of France.
Now, why do we say that the case of New Caledonia is special?
Well, you see, the reality is that there is a lot to be said on the subject of referendums.
A good proportion of the New Caledonians in favor of independence from France did not
participate in these referendums in order to try to boycott and delegitimize them by
means of very low quorums.
N1(Pro-independence movement in New Caledonia rejects legitimacy of "No" vote – Reuters)
And so, in the last referendum held in 2021, the ‘no to independence’ vote won with
96.5% of the votes.
However, the turnout was only 44%.
In other words, it would be reasonable to think that roughly the other half of the population
is not in favor of remaining part of France.
The explanation for such discontent probably has a lot to do with the feeling of being
third-rate citizens and not having the capacity to change anything.
(THE POOREST PART OF FRANCE)
New Caledonia is not the only French overseas territory that feels, to a certain extent,
marginalized by the metropolis.
There is also the case of Mayotte, a French island roughly half the size of New York city,
nestled between Madagascar and Mozambique, which is by far the poorest French territory.
Mayotte was the only one of the four Comoros islands that voted to remain part of France
in 1974, while the other three formed an independent State, which, by the way, has not fared well
either.
Despite being part of France and having spectacular scenery, crystal clear turquoise waters and
lush green mountains that delight tourists, in Mayotte a good proportion of the population
lives in substandard housing, and a large number of streets do not even have asphalt.
Despite this, its situation is considerably better than that of the Comoros islands, from
where a large number of immigrants originate.
The idea of being part of France and the European Union has attracted many Comorians to Mayotte,
to the point that, to date, only 45% of Mayotteans were born on the island, and 70% of the children
born in Mamoudzou, its capital, were born to foreign mothers.
Economic problems and lack of opportunities are compounded by social problems of all kinds,
including growing insecurity.
This explains news stories like this:
N2(Mayotte unrest: French island residents round up 'foreigners' – BBC
A group of residents from the Indian Ocean French island of Mayotte has been rounding
up suspected illegal migrants and taking them to local police)
Of course, all of this translates politically into headlines like this one:
N3 (Marine Le Pen in the lead in Mayotte, breakthrough for Jean-Luc Mélenchon and punishment
vote against Emmanuel Macron – Franceinfo)
Yes, it may surprise you, but in the French territories of Africa, Le Pen wins.
And what is the French government doing to try to change things?
Well, basically nothing except the old formula of releasing more and more money.
This, far from nurturing development, has made this island – as is the case with the
rest of the territories – immensely dependent on the metropolis, which has made the island
a rentier department of France.
Without subsidies from France, in many of these territories, they would not even be
able to meet their most basic needs.
It's a question of model.
If on the one hand you have to comply with all the cumbersome bureaucracy and endless
regulations from France that make it difficult to have competitive companies and on the other
hand the metropolis showers you with money to finance all kinds of social services, what
do you do?
Well, it's a question of incentives...
You specialize in trying to get more and more money.
You become a rentier of the public budget.
But, that was the case of Mayotte.
Let's continue.
(CARIBBEAN FRANCE)
From Mayotte we can cross half the globe and land back in France.
Specifically in the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Barthelemy and St. Martin.
Of all of them, Guadeloupeans and Martinicans are perhaps the least satisfied with their
status.
A good chunk of their population feels discriminated against by Paris.
An example?
Well, we have the case of a pesticide.
Yes, a pesticide that caused quite a stir in Guadeloupe and Martinique a few years back.
You see, chlordecone is a pesticide that was widely used in banana plantations.
The problem with it is that it turned out to be toxic.
So far, let's say, everything is normal, things like that have happened everywhere.
What is not so normal is that France approved its use in Guadeloupe two years after it was
declared potentially carcinogenic by the WHO in 1979.
Nor does it seem so normal that, some time later, it was discovered that a parliamentary
investigation in the neighboring island of Martinique, where this pesticide was also
used, determined that France had been aware of the toxicity of this chemical since 1969
and still did not prevent these overseas territories from using it intensively.
Obviously this sort of thing does little to create a sense of belonging to the French
nation.
In this move the most widespread perception in these places is that their lives, don't
count for anything to the bureaucrats in Paris.
Of course, this perception comes from long ago.
Something deeply rooted in the local worldview is its slave-owning past and what happened
with its abolition.
When slavery was abolished, France compensated slave owners for the loss suffered.
This is something that is engraved in the local identity.
And we could go on with many more examples.
Economic, social and belonging problems are common in most of these territories.
And the explanation is that the metropolis has kept them on a leash.
If these territories had had more freedom and more power, some of them could have exploited
the legal and political security that comes with being part of a country like France to
become financial, tourist or even industrial enclaves.
Which is, in contrast, what has happened with many British overseas territories: from Gibraltar,
to Bermuda, to Hong Kong itself.
What’s more, the inability of Paris to deal with social problems such as violence, lack
of security and illegal immigration in these areas should have convinced the French government
long ago that decentralization was the best and perhaps the only possible solution in
these cases.
It makes no sense that these places located thousands and thousands of miles from France
depend on Paris for practically everything.
And it also doesn't make sense that the French have replaced economic freedom with subsidies
and aid.
But, VisualPolitik fans, we are talking about France!
Perhaps the most centralist and interventionist country in all of old Europe.
The question now is over to you: What do you think France should do with these territories?
Leave us your answers below in the comments and if you found this video interesting don't
forget to hit the like button.
All the best and see you next time.