Saint Martin (), officially the
Collectivity of Saint Martin (French:
Collectivité de Saint-Martin) is an
overseas collectivity of
France located in the
Caribbean. It came into being on 22 February 2007, encompassing the northern parts of the
island of Saint Martin and neighbouring
islets, the largest of which is
Île Tintamarre. The southern part of the island,
Sint Maarten, is part of the
Netherlands Antilles.
Politics and government
Saint Martin was for many years a French
commune forming part of
Guadeloupe, which is an
overseas région and département of France and is therefore in the
European Union. In 2003 the population of the French part of the island voted in favour of
secession from Guadeloupe in order to form a separate
overseas collectivity (COM) of France. On 9 February 2007, the
French Parliament passed a bill granting COM status to both the French part of Saint Martin and neighbouring
Saint Barthélemy. The new status took effect when the law was published in the
Official Journal on 22 February 2007.
Saint Martin remains part of the
European Union. The
Treaty of Lisbon, which is not yet legally binding, states that Saint-Martin is a part of the EU.
The new governance structure befitting an overseas collectivity took effect on 15 July 2007 with the first session of the Territorial Council () and the election of
Louis-Constant Fleming as president of the Territorial Council. On 25 July 2008 Fleming resigned after being sanctioned by the
Conseil d'État for one year over problems with his 2007 election campaign. On 7 August,
Frantz Gumbs was elected as President of the Territorial Council. However, his election was declared invalid on 10 April 2009 and
Daniel Gibbs appointed as Acting President of the Territorial Council on 14 April 2009. However, Gumbs was reelected on 5 May 2009.
Before 2007, Saint Martin was coded as GP (
Guadeloupe) in
ISO 3166-1. In October 2007, it received the
ISO 3166-1 code MF (alpha-2 code), MAF (alpha-3 code), and 663 (numeric code).
Demographics
The French part of the island has a land area of 53.20 km² (20.5 sq mi). At the January 2006 French census, the population in the French part of the island was 35,263 (up from only 8,072 inhabitants at the 1982 census), which means a
population density of 663 inhabitants per km² in 2006.
Economy
Flags flying in Marigot harbour, Saint-Martin.
The official currency of Saint Martin is the
euro, though the
US dollar is also widely accepted. Tourism is the main economic activity.
INSEE estimated that the total
GDP of Saint Martin amounted to 421 million euros in 1999 (US$449 million at 1999 exchanges rates; US$599 million at Oct. 2007 exchange rates).
[ ] In that same year the GDP per capita of Saint Martin was 14,500 euros (US$15,500 at 1999 exchanges rates; US$20,600 at Oct. 2007 exchange rates), which was 39% lower than the average GDP per capita of
metropolitan France in 1999.
In comparison, the GDP per capita on the Dutch side of the island, Sint Maarten, was 14,430 euros in 2004.
Maps
Map showing the former constituent parts of the
Guadeloupe region/department among the
Leeward Islands, including Saint-Martin, before February 2007.
Map showing French Saint-Martin (north) and Dutch Sint Maarten (south).
See also
