Tuesday, at a joint press conference of the President of the French Republic, François Hollande, and Haiti, Michel Martelly, a reporter asked this question "Mr. President, you have just announced a real assistance program to education https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13853-haiti-politic-the-commitments-of-france-for-education.html are you able to value it ? I ask you the question because we have seen in the streets of Port-au-Prince some anger, the concept of moral debt you mentioned https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13832-haiti-politic-slavery-france-will-not-reimburse-haiti.html not satisfied. People consider that this is a financial debt that France owes Haiti."

President François Hollande : "[...] You know that France speaks of recognition and made act of recognition, what we have done in Pointe-à-Pitre to the Memorial [...] France must do its duty in relation to what the future is and how to assess what has happened in the past? and how to assess what has happened in the past ? It's Aimé Césaire who said 'the irreparable can not be repaired'. So my reconnaissance, my eye on history, my desire to be beside the Haitian people to whom I express the solidarity of the French people is to provide ways for schooling can be as much as possible ree and compulsory, because that is the will of President Martelly. France is at the listening what is requested by the authorities of the country.

While on the means, we ensures that the French Development Agency today as level of assets, loans, shares, 130 million €.

Today we'll set up through a project for school, which will be a first and that is part of the actions of the AFD, it is about 50 million Euros over a period that will not be a year you imagine, and which will flow on a multi-year program we will set the pace and you know the extent of it [...]

Following to the answer of François Holland, President Michel Martelly intervened on this sensitive subject "President, I would like intervene with respect to the first question asked to you, with respect to put a figure on the debt. I would say that often, Haiti has been perceived as a country where the State has not the ability to manage significant funds, therefore the position that you can be identified, may be, that is a position just because different groups have the right to see differently but the Haitian leadership of today instead of allowing that people are struggling to make money, prefers to attract services able in a concrete ways to serve the public.

That France allows generations of Haitian are trained in a country where 70% of the population is unemployed, where 85% of schools were private until I came to power, that today France allow to almost all Haitians to have access to education worth more than any number we put on debt."

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13849-haiti-politic-if-we-can-not-change-history-that-history-changes-us.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13853-haiti-politic-the-commitments-of-france-for-education.html

HL/ HaitiLibre