Brussels, 22/08/2013 (Agence Europe) - The island of Mayotte, a French department situated in the Indian Ocean, should benefit from the status of outermost region (OR) from 1 January 2014, and no longer that of overseas country and territory (OCT). In the EU's view, Mayotte will therefore benefit from the same treatment as Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Reunion.
On 7 August, the European Commission proposed amending the necessary European legislation for this to happen - in other words the directives on value added tax (2006/112/EC) and excise (2008/118/EC), which exclude the outermost regions, and thus also Mayotte from now on.
The Commission did not consider that the change of the island's status, which has become a French department from an OCT, required an impact analysis, or that there would be an effect on the EU budget. It is worth noting, however, that the EU multiannual financial framework for 2014-2020 provides for a special envelope for this French territory. This is a “special allocation” of €20 million which was negotiated to compensate for the region's remoteness. (MD/transl.fl)