Jules Charville, his commitment for the Collectivité with the Hope Party

He “never had this ambition" to “make a political career," to appear on a list for the territorial elections. Until very recently. “But now, I have no choice if I want to change my island," confided Jules Charville, leader of the Hope Party, a political association created in August 2015 but which revealed itself to the public last May.

"We need to make a profound change," he believes. "For the four and a half years since I’ve been on the territorial council*, I’ve noticed that nothing is done with consideration for the population. The people are totally ignored," he continued. So he set out to go meet the people. "Our ambition is to be a party 100% in service of the population," he insisted. For several months, the Hope Party has been holding public meetings in various neighborhoods of the French side to "listen to" the citizens, whose grievances will help to develop the party’s programme. In these meetings, it came out that youth unemployment and delinquency are people’s two main concerns. "According to young people, there is a real disconnect between them and those in power. They told us that they felt like they didn’t exist," reported Jules Charville.

NEGOTIATING TO UNBLOCK SITUATIONS

"The global economic crisis impacted our island, but today, the entire world is seeing signs of growth except for here. It seems like no measures are being taken to motivate investors to come here. Businesses are closing, and we are doing nothing to try to keep them open," he noted bitterly.

The Hope Party proposes the measure of "negotiating with the State for exoneration from social security costs for three to four years." "We see that one of the main obstacles to hiring is the burden of social security costs. If we reduce them, that could create jobs, so we want to request this directly from the State," explained Jules Charville, for whom "the Collectivité should create conditions for economic development." "But today, there is a lack of political vision. There is no willingness to revitalize the economy, to revive the Saint-Martin machine," he lamented. And he cited the La Belle Créole project in Nettlé Bay as a flagrant example illustrating “this lack." By running in the territorial elections, Jules Charville commits to contribute to opening this issue by "approaching investors" and advancing negotiations. Ditto for the family owning the Happy Bay site, which is much desired by many investors.

Jules Charville also wants to negotiate with the Conservatoire du Littoral. "On the Galion site, we had a five star hotel. It is now demolished. I think we should talk with the Conservatoire du Littoral to see whether it might be possible to open a new ecolodge-style establishment integrated into the environment," he added.

Jules Charville feels that it is also important to keep negotiating with landowners in order to build roads. "We have had a road improvement plan since 2007, and nothing has been done. Automobile traffic conditions are disastrous. We need to build new roads, we have no choice. It will take time and it won’t be easy, since we will need to acquire property, but we need to start. We need to open negotiations," acknowledges the candidate, whose ambition is to "make life more pleasant for Saint-Martin residents."

REDUCING POVERTY

The Hope Party does not tolerate the fact that in Sandy Ground or French Quarter, "there could be such a level of poverty, while we are in the 21^st century and a part of Europe." "It is unacceptable," deems Jules Charville. "There are families in need, and there is a lack of attention to certain situations. The Collectivité does not know enough about what happens in these districts. There aren’t enough officers to go into the field and provide what is needed. These situations must be improved," he affirmed.

On a social level, one of the measures that the Hope Party also wants to adopt is the abolition of the flat rate deduction of 30% on the RSA (Active Solidarity Income, or revenu de solidarité active). "It is unjust to tax poverty," commented Jules Charville, aware of the financial gulf generated locally by this allocation. "It is a national mechanism, so the State should take better responsiblity for it. We need to negotiate with it," he believes.

PRESENTATION OF MEASURES IN FEBRUARY

The Hope Party will present all of these social measures, and others, to the people in February 2017. Jules Charville is currently working on creating his list. This will not necessarily be those who co-founded the party. In addition to those sharing his ambitions and values, he especially wants those men and women who are "committed and who will be 100% involved." "You cannot combine a professional activity with being elected, particularly not as Vice President of the Collectivité," considered Jules Charville, who wishes to surround himself with individuals capable of letting go of their careers during their term and being motivated by "the desire to work solely towards the general interest." In other words, he does not want opportunists or those with overblown egos. "Which isn’t easy to find..."

In addition, Jules Charville intends to invest in "new faces." He thinks that today’s changes should come from political ideas, but also and especially from the people. He therefore does not necessarily endorse the same candidates that have run repeatedly over many years. He confided that if he does not manage to find twenty-six people (the number required to constitute a list) corresponding to his criteria, he will not present a list at the territorial elections in March 2017.

However, the Hope Party will not stop working. "We will continue and will support a candidate for the legislative and senatorial elections," declared Jules Charville, specifying that this will not be him.

* Jules Charville had been elected in March 2012 on the Team Daniel Gibbs list. "He came to see me and told me that he wanted me as number three on the list. I accepted on certain conditions, but those conditions were not respected, so I quickly left," he explained.