The European Union and French Polynesia
French Polynesia is made up of more than 120 islands, including Tahiti, where the administrative capital, Papeete, is situated. It is located in the South Pacific and comprises about half of France’s marine waters (5 million square kilometres). Its economy relies on the services sector, fishing and pearl cultivation. The standard of living is comparable to European countries. French Polynesia has been a beneficiary of the European Development Fund (EDF) for almost 60 years.
Political and Economic Relations
Association of the OCTs with the European Union
Overseas countries and territories (OCTs) have been associated with the European Union since the Treaty of Rome entered into force. These 13 islands and groups of islands located in the Atlantic, Antarctic, Arctic, Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific regions are not sovereign countries but depend on three EU Member States: Denmark, France and the Netherlands. The Overseas Association Decision (Council Decision 2013/755/EU) covers relations between the OCTs (including Greenland), the Member States to which they are linked and the European Union. The main source of funding for the current Overseas Association Decision is the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), covering the programming and funding of territorial and regional programmes for OCTs other than Greenland, for which there is a specific decision funded from the EU budget.
In general, OCTs have wide-ranging autonomy in areas such as economic affairs, the employment market, public health, home affairs and customs. Defence and foreign affairs remain within the remit of the Member States. OCTs are not part of the EU customs territory. EU legislation therefore does not apply to them. The OCTs’ inhabitants hold EU citizenship. Cooperation between the EU and the OCTs in the area of financial services helps to build a safer financial system.
Territorial Cooperation
During the period 2008-2013 (10th EDF), French Polynesia received €19.79 million in aid for building institutional capacity, constructing wastewater disposal and treatment systems and improving public finance management. Between 2014 and 2020 (11th EDF) it received €29.9 million in aid for the tourism sector.
Regional Cooperation
PROTÉGÉ
PROTEGE, the Pacific Territories Regional Project for Sustainable Ecosystem Management, is an initiative designed to promote sustainable and climate-change-resilient economic development in the three Pacific OCTs (New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna) with an emphasis on biodiversity and renewable natural resources. The project is being implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) over a period of four years (2018-2022). It focuses on four topics: agriculture and forestry, coastal fishing and aquaculture, water and invasive species. It is financed through the 11th EDF regional budget (€36 million) and co-financing from the three OCTs (€128 000).
KIWA Initiative
The Kiwa Initiative, launched in March 2020 by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) with a budget of €35 million, is the result of an unprecedented partnership led by France (€13 million) and the European Union (€13.9 million) and also bringing together Canada (€6.8 million), Australia (€0.62 million) and New Zealand (€0.6 million). Its aim is to strengthen the resilience of Oceania’s ecosystems, economies and communities to the impacts of climate change by supporting projects that promote nature-based solutions through grants and technical assistance.
Other European instruments and programmes
French Polynesia is also a beneficiary of the BEST 2.0+ programme, the goal of which is to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural resources and ecosystem services, including for climate-change adaptation and mitigation, in the overseas countries and territories (OCTs). It is also eligible for funding from other European schemes, such as the InvestEU programme and the COSME sectoral programmes (competitiveness of enterprises and SMEs), the Connecting Europe Facility (improving connectivity in the EU), Creative Europe (support for the culture and audiovisual sectors), Erasmus+ (education/training/youth/sport), LIFE (environment and climate), and Horizon Europe (research and innovation).