Long haul to "overseas departements" is not a good comparison. The word "departement" is French for "county", so the British equivelant are Antrim, Down, etc., the only difference is the distance.
Flights between ORY and the "departements outre-mer" (overseas counties) are domestic flights. They are very long domestic flights admittedly, but domestic flights nonetheless, in much the same way as DME/SVO/VKO-VVO in the Russian Federation.
I am fully aware of why these services exist. I never mentioned international, just that France had long haul services from their regions. It was just in response to the idea that the UK had more long haul services from the regions than anywhere else in Europe. There are often reasons why these services exist and there is almost certainly a reason why EK can fill so many flights from the UK regions to Dubai; onward connections to markets like India and Australia where there are close ties to the UK play a huge role. Similar to the reason why PIA can run a direct flight from Leeds Bradford to Islamabad; close ties due to historical immigration. There is an (albeit lose) parallel in this way to the numerous services to the French departements from their regions (even if I didn't set out to make a link!). You could go around each country in Europe and look at how these historical links have fostered (what may at first glance appear unusual) short and long haul routes.