Préfète Déléguée Sylvie Feucher with President Daniel Gibbs and (to her right) Chef de Service for the St. Martin Europe office Jack Plaisir and assistant Chef de Service Anita Dollet. (Robert Luckock photo)
MARIGOT--The Préfecture on Monday launched a European Union (EU) funding communication campaign aimed at the general population under the slogan “With Europe, let’s build together the future of St. Martin”.
St. Martin has been benefitting for more than 20 years from the solidarity policy that Europe has been implementing to benefit its least-favoured regions. This assistance comes under Europe’s cohesion policy which aims to reduce the gaps between the different regions of the Union.
Europe intervenes in the territory through different categories of structural funds. These are: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), European Social Fund (ESF), European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), and European Fund for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries FEAMP.
In total, more than 62 million euros were made available to St. Martin in the 2014-2020 period, for its economic development. Following the passage of Hurricane Irma, an emergency fund, the EUSF, was made available to St. Martin. Among other things, it made it possible to rebuild the schools.
From January 28 to February 25, 2020, in partnership with the Collectivité, a major communication campaign will highlight Europe’s action in St. Martin through the promotion of projects initiated in the fields of tourism, education, employment, vocational training, the environment, agriculture and fisheries, and the development of the territory’s infrastructure.
The latest awareness survey on the perception of Europe by St. Martiners showed that only 38 per cent of respondents had heard about Europe’s involvement in St. Martin. The aim of the campaign is therefore to give the people of St. Martin the opportunity to be more enlightened about the EU thanks to the concrete results of cohesion policy on the ground and to the direct impact on their daily lives.
The communication campaign focuses on concrete EU achievements in St. Martin from EU funds. EU-funded projects cover key issues such as education, infrastructure development, tourism, training and the environment. Examples of projects funded by the EU are reconstruction of the Lycées, Grand Case Beach Club modernisation, renovation of La Source guesthouse, construction of an airport maintenance and freight hangar, vocational training in aluminium joinery, and construction of the Quartier d’Orléans wastewater treatment plant.
The campaign is implemented using a wide range of communication means and media with high impact programmes aimed directly at the general public. In addition to traditional media such as posters and billboards (billboards, sides of buses, written press), audio-visual supports will also be broadcast (radio spots and advertising film). An exhibition on the projects financed by European funds will also be set up throughout the month on the premises of the Préfecture, the Collectivité and in the secondary schools.
