SXMElections.com

MARIGOT--Tributes were paid to Préfet Délégué Philippe Chopin for dedicated service to St. Martin and St. Barths during his near-five-year tenure as the State’s highest representative, at a cocktail party in the Préfecture on Tuesday evening where he was presented with numerous gifts as tokens of appreciation.

Chopin takes on a new posting as a fully-fledged Préfet for the Region of Creuse in Central France.

As usual on such occasions, the Préfecture’s conference room was packed with representatives of all of the institutions, Gendarmerie, Police Territorial and border police (PAF) among them, with whom the Préfet worked.

The guest list included Dutch-side dignitaries Governor Eugene Holiday, Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Justice Minister Dennis Richardson while from the French side former Senator Louis-Constant Fleming and former Presidents of the Collectivité Frantz Gumbs and Alain Richardson were present. Notable also was the presence of former Director of General Services (DGS) for the Collectivité Pascal Averne wearing his familiar trademark black suit and white shirt.

Speeches were made by President of the Territorial Council Aline Hanson, Governor Holiday, Prime Minister Gumbs, and Préfet of the Guadeloupe Region Jacques Billant. Invariably, the speeches complimented Chopin on the numerous dossiers on which he had worked on behalf of St. Martin, and his achievements.

Prime Minister Gumbs said he had returned to St. Martin early from a trip to Washington DC to be at the Préfet’s party. He said the pair had established a good rapport in the short time they had worked together.

“I want to thank him for his vision where cooperation between St. Martin and St. Maarten is concerned and for his leadership shown in carrying out that part of his responsibility,” Gumbs said. “I want to say, ‘Thank you; you did an excellent job in the five months since we met and worked together, and particularly your leadership in the different working groups which was quite a challenge. And in general for the good relationship at the meetings we had in your office or mine.’ You have left big shoes to fill.”

Governor Holiday commended Chopin for his “realistic approach” to resolving issues, recalling their first meetings, and said this trait had made it a lot easier to resolve those issues. Referencing the composer of the same name, Holiday said Chopin had “composed wonderful relations between Dutch and French St. Martin.”

“You were also concerned about security in French St. Martin and by extension Dutch St. Maarten and for that too I want to express my appreciation,” Holiday said.

Préfet Jacques Billant in his address recounted Chopin’s career path to date, describing his “formidable personal investment” to succeed in his mission in St. Martin and said Chopin always had been present “on all fronts.”

Holiday presented Chopin with a Roland Richardson painting on behalf of the Governor’s office and Government of St. Maarten. Justice Minister Dennis Richardson also took the opportunity to present him with a medal for his cooperation with the Justice Ministry.

President Aline Hanson on behalf of the Collectivité presented Chopin with a painting by Yves Jhigai and a paperweight with the emblem and logo of the Collectivité, while Préfet Jacques Billant presented him with a Préfecture medal and a medal from President of the French Republic François Hollande.

Chopin’s personal secretary Jocelyne Illidge presented him with a watch on behalf of the Préfecture employees.

In a humorous speech Chopin thanked everyone for working with him as well as employees of the Préfecture. He joked that after receiving so many gifts he would be staying after all. He said the only regrets he had were the dossiers he had been unable to complete within the timeframe.

Often teased about his shortcomings in speaking English, he surprised the audience with a final segment of his speech in English in which he recalled “three great moments” he always would remember in his relationship with the Dutch side.

One of these moments was when he met the King of the Netherlands and greeted the King in Dutch, but later found out that English would have sufficed and that he was the only French person who had attempted to speak Dutch.

The second moment was when he was due to meet the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, but got the time of the meeting wrong at 7:30pm when it should have been at 7:00pm. “I am always on time, but my secretary called me and asked me where I was. When I realised the mistake I was so embarrassed. When the Prime Minister greeted me I thought he was going to say something about me being late but I was amazed; instead of that, the first thing he said was to ask how my son was.”

The third moment was meeting the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs with Marcel Gumbs.

The new Préfète of St. Martin and St. Barths, Anne Laubies-Roques, is due to start work on Monday, June 8.

Alain Richardson mentioned 1 time
Aline Hanson mentioned 2 times
Frantz Gumbs mentioned 1 time
Marcel Gumbs mentioned 2 times