Adopted  on May  20, 2020 by the Council of Ministers of the French government, the draft law on the reform of the FCFA has just been validated by parliamentarians.

On Thursday 10 December, French MPs gave the green light to this new legislation on the common  currency of the 8 West African countries. From now on, the CFA  Franc will become "ECO", maintaining the fixed parity with the Euro, as well as the end of the centralization of the foreign exchange reserves of the West African States with the French Treasury.

 
In his speech to the National Assembly, MP Jean Paul Lecoq of the Democratic and Republican Left group strongly criticized the adoption of this bill. The parliamentarian, very upset against the French authorities, maintained that this debate should be done with all stakeholders.

According to Jean Paul Lecoq, the reform was not made to change anything, on the fund, and his method confirms the condescension of the France vis-à-vis the countries in question. "A change of currency, if we respect the people concerned, should have been a democratic project, transparent and open," he said.

"Death of the monetary integration project" led by ECOWAS

The proclaimed mourning of the CFA Franc did not leave indifferent some Senegalese economists who reacted strongly on the news site Seneplus. For Demba Moussa Dembélé, "the France will do everything to cling to our countries to prevent them not only from having their monetary sovereignty, but also from choosing their own path towards development."

"What we need to know is that African countries, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and others, their future is in ECOWAS and in the unity of Africa (...) Africans must know that this law has nothing to do with the interests of Africa. Rather, it is to perpetuate the domination of France over our countries," he added.

For his part, Ndongo Samba Sylla mentioned that "Macron and Ouattara have only got rid of the most controversial finery (of the CFA Franc), and thus sign the death of the project of monetary integration of the ECOWAS countries".

As a reminder, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, announced, on December 21, 2019 in Abidjan, that the France and the 8 WAEMU countries have decided on a major reform of the FCFA. And that the former community currency will change its name to become "ECO" in 2020, the same denomination proposed for the future common currency of the ECOWAS area dominated by Nigeria and Ghana.