PARIS, Nov 27, Reuters - France is willing to discuss autonomy for the French Caribbean territory of Guadeloupe if it is in the interests of the people who live there, government minister Sebastien Lecornu said.
There have been several days of protests against COVID 19 measures that have spilled over into violence in Guadeloupe and the nearby French island of Martinique.
In a video released late on Friday, Lecornu, the minister for France's overseas territories, said that certain elected officials in Guadeloupe raised the question of autonomy, changing its status as an overseas region.
The government is ready to talk about this. He said that there are no bad debates, as long as those debates help to solve the real problems of people in Guadeloupe.
He said that there would be a series of initiatives that the government in Paris would take in Guadeloupe, including improving healthcare, infrastructure projects, and a scheme to create jobs for young people.
The French government has announced this week that it will be postponing a requirement for public sector workers in Martinique and Guadeloupe to get a COVID 19 vaccine.
That sparked protests, fanning long-standing grievances over living standards and the relationship with Paris.