Decreased Funding but Stable Overall Effort

The Minister for Overseas Territories, Naïma Moutchou, presented the 2026 budget allocations for the overseas territories during her hearing before the Senate’s Law Committee.

The draft budget bill allocates €2.9 billion in commitment appropriations (CA) and €2.8 billion in payment appropriations (PA), representing a decrease of 18% and 5% respectively compared to 2025.

Despite this reduction, the government is maintaining an overall commitment of €24.9 billion in CA and €26.8 billion in PA to support all overseas territories. The Minister emphasized that aligning CA and PA represents “progress and budgetary transparency.”

For Mayotte, the Departmental Council will receive €100 million, and €290 million will be allocated under the territorial reform planning law. The State has approved the creation of a specific action within the State’s Territorial Intervention Program (PITE), called PITE Mayotte.

The relevant ministerial budgets will fund this initiative, which could reach €298 million in budget authority and €374 million outside of PITE, for a total of nearly €700 million. Parliament will receive the annual budget allocation before December 31, 2025.

For his part, Senator Thani Mohamed Soilihi reiterated the urgent needs on the island, which has been weakened by Cyclones Chido and Dikeledi. He mentioned water, education, healthcare, airport and port infrastructure, but above all, security. Many children are unable to attend school due to frequent stone-throwing incidents. The senator called for a reinforcement of the maritime gendarmerie, the acquisition of a new interceptor vessel, and the upgrading of infrastructure.