Our President at the CESC

A prefectural ruling on May 22, 2013 meant that our president Hélène Bernier became a member of the Economic, Social, and Cultural Council (CESC) of Saint-Barthélemy. She represents the island’s environmental protection organizations, as agreed by the various associations that operate in this domain.

The CESC is one of the four institutions of the Collectivity (with the territorial council, the president of the territorial council, and the executive council), and comprises 15 members named for five-year terms. The members are representatives of various associations and organizations that create the economic, social and cultural life of Saint-Barthélemy. The CESC acts in an advisory capacity to the territorial council on certain issues that concern the island, and can offer advice on other subjects.

The installation of the CESC was held at the Collectivity on June 20, pretty much behind closed doors. Thierry Balzame, professional business representative, was elected president of the CESC. The candidature of our president for the post of finance did not bear fruit, as it went to Jackson Questel

A WORD FROM HELENE BERNIER 

“Our association applied for the seat on the council in order to better share its point of view and more generally promote an awareness of environmental protection. Our hope is to be able to influence the decision-making process. I would also like to say that I was very pleased with the informal meeting that took pace prior to the official installation of the CESC, as much as I was disappointed with that event itself. It was actually acknowledged that the board was “selected” before the meeting by the former members of the CESC, without consulting the new ones. We were then asked to vote for the new board without any possibility of naming other potential candidates, who might have been perceived as opposition, which is regrettable in such an advisory assembly. 

In the future, I certainly hope there will be more democratic means employed in the treatment of dossiers and that all of the council members will be consulted and informed in the same manner. I also hope that absence of environmental protection in the list of priorities (see the Journal de Saint-Barth N°1033) set by the new president of the CESC, perhaps without consulting all of the members, is just a simple omission. I cannot believe that the new CESC of Saint Barthélemy, as well as the Overseas Minister, made the effort to allot a seat on the CESC for a representative of the environmental protection associations, and that the national institution called “The Economic, Social, and Environmental Council,” could think that environmental protection is not a priority! Yet it is true that the former CESC gave a negative opinion on joining the Kyoto treaty on the pretext that such an action “would be out of proportion for Collectivity, in terms of statistics, follow-up, measures etc.”  My challenge at the beginning of this term? To modify opinions within the CESC itself, and make everyone understand that the protection of our environment cannot be sacrificed on the economic altar of the island!”