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French «old colonies» (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, Réunion) were integrated into the common status of departments in 1946, so that common statutes and decrees be enforced there as in mainland France. Nevertheless, Constitution provides that special provisions may be enacted for them, in accordance with their «specific situation», and local politicians are asking everyday for such special provisions. As a matter of fact, this «specific situation» seems to be laying in some deep-rooted cultural behavior rejecting both open economic competition and the patterns of modern public institutions. Self-government seems to be the only way out; but this would require a shift for a status of Overseas Countries and Territories in EC law.