Politics
How the Collectivité de Saint-Martin works: the French side's government explained
A plain-language guide to the Collectivité de Saint-Martin: the 23-member Territorial Council, the President, the Executive Council, the CESC and the French State's separate role.
By SXM Daily ·
The French side of St. Martin is governed by the Collectivité de Saint-Martin, an overseas collectivity of France with its own elected institutions. According to France's Overseas Ministry, Saint-Martin has been a "collectivité unique" since 2007, led by a 23-member Territorial Council elected for five years.
Photo: SV Zanshin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
This explainer sets out who does what, based on the Overseas Ministry and the Saint-Martin sections of France's Code général des collectivités territoriales (CGCT).
The Territorial Council (Conseil territorial)
The Territorial Council is the elected assembly. Under the CGCT, it settles the Collectivité's affairs through votes called délibérations. It also holds the powers that elsewhere in France belong to municipal, departmental and regional councils.
The Overseas Ministry says the council has 23 members elected for five years. It elects a President and an Executive Council.
The council can hand some of its powers to the Executive Council, but not the budget or local referendums.
The President
The CGCT names the President of the Territorial Council as the Collectivité's executive. The President represents it, prepares and carries out the decisions of both councils, chairs the Executive Council, heads the Collectivité's services and authorises its spending.
The Executive Council (Conseil exécutif)
According to the Overseas Ministry, the Executive Council is made up of vice-presidents and councillors. Under the CGCT, it:
- drafts the proposals that go to the Territorial Council
- adopts, on the President's proposal, the regulations needed to apply them
- exercises any powers the Territorial Council delegates to it
The CGCT also has it decide certain individual cases directly, including work permits for foreigners and land-use authorisations. Decisions are taken by majority, and the President has the casting vote in a tie.
The CESC
The Overseas Ministry says the Collectivité also has an Economic, Social and Cultural Council (Conseil économique, social et culturel, or CESC).
The French State is separate
The Collectivité is not the French State. State services such as the préfecture, gendarmerie and courts remain separate. The CGCT gives the State's representative, the préfet, a role in reviewing certain Collectivité acts. Saint-Martin also elects one député, shared with Saint-Barthélemy, and one senator to the French Parliament.
The Dutch side is different
Sint Maarten, the southern half of the island, is a separate country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands with its own Constitution. See our companion explainer.
Sources
- https://www.outre-mer.gouv.fr/territoires/saint-martin
- https://librejustice.fr/norm/fr/code-general-des-collectivites-territoriales/partie-legislative/sixieme-partie-collectivites-d-outre-mer/livre-iii/titre-v
Source: https://www.outre-mer.gouv.fr/territoires/saint-martin