Tomorrow in Mauritius, all neighbouring countries will sign an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union. The EPA is a free trade agreement covering the bulk of trade, under which the EU opens up its entire market. In La Réunion Island, the agreement applies by treating our country as a region of the European Union, resulting in the Réunion market being 100% open to all goods and services from the countries that have signed the EPA. In this case, this paves the way for significant relocations within what remains of Réunion’s productive economy, with permanent jobs—not temporary employment contracts—at risk of being lost.
The Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar and the Seychelles negotiated the agreement in their best interests by excluding strategic sectors and including services because, according to the European Commission, “the five countries already applying the agreement (Interim EPA — Ed.) have declared themselves ready to move beyond trade in goods towards a more comprehensive agreement”. The interim EPA provides, according to the European Commission, that “sensitive products may be completely excluded from liberalisation”.

The interests of a former small colony come after those of Europeans

But as the EU negotiated on behalf of La Réunion Island, our economy was unable to benefit from any exemptions. The EU defended the interests of Europeans seeking to sell their goods in our region. Europeans live 10,000 kilometres away and find it hard to imagine that their products and services could face competition from those of the Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar or the Seychelles. This significantly reduces any risk of businesses relocating to Europe. Meanwhile, La Réunion Island is on the front line, 200 kilometres from Mauritius and less than 1,000 kilometres from Madagascar. Due to a high cost of living and consequently artificially high prices caused by a neo-colonial system maintained by the main donor, France, La Réunion Island is a very attractive market for our neighbours, who have the educated young workforce needed to provide services in Réunion, for a wage lower than the RSA (under 560 euros per month).
Shifting the blame for such a looming disaster onto Europe or France does not reflect reality, as the French and Europeans have negotiated an agreement in their own best interests, and La Réunion Island is not their priority. They were not going to scupper an agreement that would allow them to establish a lasting presence in our region (notably large retailers and banks in Madagascar) in order to protect a former small colony of fewer than a million inhabitants, kept in a state of underdevelopment by a neo-colonial system and heavily dependent on money from France.

Result of the alienation

The root of the problem is the lack of a conscience specific to La Réunion Island. This is what sets our country apart from its neighbours. The people of Réunion were not consulted, but did they even want to be? News stories, gambling, matches involving the French national football team or PSG, requests for aid from France, and elections for local leaders or representatives in France are far more important concerns than the future of their own country for many Reunionese, who see themselves first and foremost as French and not as members of the Reunionese people, and rely on the ‘Motherland’ in Paris to resolve issues concerning the future of La Réunion Island… The result of this abdication of responsibility is the EPA, which paves the way for the ruin of what remains of jobs in La Réunion Island, stemming from local production.
Any country with a modicum of conscience would have seen its economic and political leaders mobilise to ensure that Réunion could be a stakeholder in the EPA negotiations, in order to benefit from the protections due to any developing country. Those who caused the failure of autonomy bear a heavy responsibility for the prevalence of alienation. This situation also highlights the failure of Réunionese capitalism, which has proved incapable of organising a campaign with local government leaders and representatives of Réunionese people in Europe. Having emerged from the accumulation of wealth generated by slavery, this local form of capitalism lacks a sense of identity with Réunion, which explains its failure, as illustrated by the takeover of entire sectors of our economy by foreign companies.

Young people are left with no choice but to rely on social security, try to become civil servants, or join the African diaspora in Asia and the West

The result is that young people from La Réunion Island who aspire to work in fields such as accounting, IT services, telecommunications services, or business services more generally, see their dreams vanish unless they accept a salary lower than the RSA (under 560 euros per month) in a neighbouring country, emigrate to a continent other than Africa to join the many African diasporas in Asia or the West, survive on the RSA in La Réunion Island, or hope to join the civil service. This is the result of alienation; when will we wake up before it is too late?

M.M.