Overview

• On May 27 the Senate in Paris adopted the first-reading bill by a wide majority to ‘refound’ Mayotte, France’s poorest department in the Indian Ocean.
• The legislation commits almost €4 billion from 2025 to 2031 for rebuilding water, education, health, transport and security systems devastated by Cyclone Chido.
• Immigration measures impose stricter residency and family-reunification criteria, centralize paternity recognition, raise penalties for fraud and streamline expulsions from informal settlements.
• Economic and social provisions create a global free zone with 100% tax abatements, aim for social convergence with mainland France by 2031 and establish a unified department-region status.
• Left-wing senators have warned the tougher security and migration provisions may infringe human rights as the bill moves to the National Assembly for final approval.