Nicolas Sarkozy visited last week the French overseas department of Martinique to present his proposal of a referendum of autonomy for the Caribbean island. In his declaration of intentions, the French president said "I will ask the people of Martinique on the institutional development of their territory [...] and they will be free to choose the path they wish". However, he further added that "we are not talking about a discussion on independence" but "over the degree of autonomy".

Martinique is currently an overseas region and an overseas department, and hence two assemblies -the General Council and the Regional Council- are held. As an overseas department (DOM in French) it enjoys the same degree of autonomy as any other department of Metropolitan France, which, on the ground, is almost none. According to Le Monde, the referendum Sarkozy seeks to promote will revolve around three possibilities: the maintenance of the current status quo, the creation of a single collectivity by virtue of article 73 of the French Constitution or the drafting of a Statute of Autonomy on the grounds of article 74.

The second choice would mean the transformation of the two assemblies into a single structure, but voters in Martinique rejected this in a referendum held in 2003. A major change would occur only if voters preferred the autonomous status, which would turn Martinique into an overseas collectivity -with the same degree of self-government enjoyed by the French Polynesia and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. If that happened a process of negotiation to determine the devolved powers would start, and afterwards most of French laws, except for those referring to justice, foreign affairs and defence, would have to include a special mention for their implementation in Martinique.

Sarkozy's announcement has been welcomed by most of Martinique's political parties, and now the French president and the island's councilors will have to arrange a schedule and a working plan to make the proposal come true.

Sarkozy was in Martinique to attend the States-General, a parliamentary discussion that gathers Martinique's main political actors and members of civil society to identify challenges and set up priorities. Then he traveled to Guadeloupe to open the States-General there, four months after the unrest caused by the raising cost of living.

Further information:

• LePoint: Nicolas Sarkozy veut consulter les Martiniquais sur l'autonomie
• LeMonde.fr: Sarkozy propose un référendum sur l'autonomie en Martinique