The administrative court of Martinique rejected on Wednesday October 4 an appeal from the prefect which requested the suspension of a deliberation recognizing the Creole language as the official language of this Caribbean island. “The summary judge of the administrative court rejects the appeal of the prefect of Martinique who requested the provisional suspension of the deliberation of the Assembly of Martinique of May 25, 2023 recognizing the Creole language as the official language of Martinique,” explains the court in a statement.
On May 25, three days after the celebrations of the 175th anniversary of the abolition of slavery on the island, the elected representatives of the Assembly of Martinique adopted a text whose article 1 makes Creole its official language in same title as French.
Withdrawal request
Guarantor of the control of the legality of the deliberations of local authorities, Jean-Christophe Bouvier, prefect of Martinique, asked on July 25 the president of the executive body of the territorial collectivity of Martinique (CTM) to withdraw this article, reminding him that “the first paragraph of article 2 of the Constitution of August 4, 1958 provides that “the language of the Republic is French””. The president of the CTM executive council, Serge Letchimy, refused to obey this request from the prefect, who therefore referred the matter to the judge on September 11.
According to the court, “article 1 of the deliberation of May 25, 2023 by which the Assembly of Martinique recognizes the Creole language as the official language of Martinique, in the same way as French, is devoid of any normative significance and has no other effect than to authorize the President of this Assembly to transmit the bill announced, as stated in Article 3 of the deliberation.
Article 3 provides that “the President of the Assembly of Martinique transmits the bill to the Prime Minister, to the representative of the State in the territorial community and to the Presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate “.