Europe has a new islets - in the Indian Ocean.

France 101 Department is far from Paris: The tiny island of Mayotte near the Comoros has been decided by popular vote, will belong to the EU. Nearly 200,000 new Europeans win the Union in its extreme outskirts.

 

Paris - On Sunday, the approximately 70,000 eligible voters called on the future geopolitical status of only 374 square kilometers large archipelago in the Indian Ocean to vote - and they have opted for Europe. 95.2 percent of eligible voters voted in favor, the island that its 101 Département of France should be. French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed the referendum as a "historic moment for Mayotte.

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Mayotte Island: Extreme peripheral region of the EU

186,000 people officially live on the island, almost entirely Muslim, the French since 1841 and since 1976 officially became the "Territorial Collectivités," the overseas French administrative area belong.

As 101 Département of the Grande Nation, the inhabitants of Mayotte is not only entitled to more extensive social benefits of the French state, the island would thus automatically become part of the European Union. The status will take effect in 2011 - an attractive prospect, because now provides Paris with an annual 635 million euros a standard of living, which is ten times as high as in the neighboring Komoreninseln.

1974, the island of Mayotte is the only population of the Comoros on renounces its independence and remained under French territorial. In the poverty and economic hardship region between Madagascar and Mozambique Sondersatus this attracts many foreigners and refugees.