Nouméa's future is being written… In Paris.

The government is organizing a series of meetings this Thursday and Friday to advance the status of New Caledonia.

These discussions are taking place ten months after the disputed referendum on the independence of the archipelago, without the separatists who will not make the trip.

The Kanak and Socialist Liberation Front (FLNKS) will be absent from the bilateral meetings scheduled for the next two days with the Minister of the Interior and Overseas, Gérald Darmanin, and the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne.

At the beginning of September, the Minister Delegate for Overseas Jean-François Carenco had nevertheless left New Caledonia with the assurance that “everyone had agreed to come to Paris at the end of October”.

That is to say even the separatists, with whom the dialogue had been broken for several months.

Show the "good will" of the state

“The dialogue is not broken.

There is a point of view for the moment which is different on the timing, on the sequencing of the meetings, but the dialogue is permanent with everyone, ”says the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas. sea.

“The discussions cannot succeed and progress without the separatists, it is obvious”, underlines Matignon.

"On the other hand, we consider that it is the State's responsibility to initiate this process almost a year after the third referendum, to show its goodwill but also its sense of responsibility in the spirit of the Nouméa agreement for give the signal that the phase of discussions on the future of New Caledonia will be initiated from October 28, "he adds.

A “bogus” referendum

The calendar appears to be a major issue in explaining the reasons for this defection from the FLNKS.

In June 2021, the former Minister of Overseas Territories, Sébastien Lecornu, had promised the organization of a "project referendum" in June 2023, relating to a new status for the territory, following three consultations on the independence provided for in the Nouméa agreement signed in 1998.

A referendum demanded today by the loyalist camp, but which the separatists do not want, because, according to them, it no longer has any reason to exist: they are contesting the third and last referendum on independence, held in December 2021, which they had boycotted.

The no to independence received 96.5% of the vote.

Following this referendum, which they describe as "phony", the separatists declared that "any timetable was null and void" and that they would now only discuss "on the basis of independence".

In this perspective, the trip to Paris, where the State and loyalists intend to decide on a timetable, seems counterproductive to them.

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New Caledonia: Meeting in Paris in September on the future of the archipelago, after the referendums on independence

  • Company

  • New Caledonia

  • Elisabeth Borne

  • Jean-Francois Carenco

  • Overseas

  • independence referendum