French President Emmanuel Macron is set to miss Thursday’s meeting of EU leaders as he heads to the cyclone-hit island of Mayotte, according to Euractiv.
Macron tasked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to represent France’s interests in the European Council in a move enshrined in a bilateral agreement at Aix-la-Chapelle in 2019.
However, the president will attend the EU-Balkans Summit later on Wednesday, 18 December, in Brussels, where he will hold a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He is also scheduled to conduct a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the afternoon.
Cyclone Chido hit the French oversea region of Mayotte last weekend, killing 22 people and injuring more than 1,000, according to official figures. However, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau estimated “hundreds, if not thousands dead.”
Much of the immigrant population from the rest of the Comoros follows Muslim rites that require the dead to be buried within 24 hours. This makes it almost impossible to make any accurate estimate of casualties.
Newly appointed Prime Minister François Bayrou confirmed on Tuesday that France would take action on the EU Regional Emergency Support to Reconstruction (RESTORE) fund. Macron also announced that nationwide mourning would take place.
French politician and member of the European Parliament François-Xavier Bellamy called on the French people to unite and help Mayotte.
What Mayotte is experiencing is a national tragedy. Would this crisis be treated in the same way if it were happening in another French department? The whole country must unite to act in the face of the emergency – to provide the people of Mayotte with aid, water, food, energy, etc.
