Papeete (AFP)
Without asking forgiveness, Emmanuel Macron said that France had "a debt" to French Polynesia for having carried out nearly 200 nuclear tests in the Pacific for 30 years, until 1996.
"I assume and I want the truth and transparency with you," said Tuesday in Papeete (Wednesday morning in Paris) the Head of State, addressing Polynesian officials on the last day of his first visit to the huge archipelago.
Recognizing that this sensitive issue affected "confidence" between Papeete and Paris, he announced in particular that the victims of these tests, some of whom suffer from cancer, should be better compensated.
"The nation has a debt towards French Polynesia. This debt is the fact of having housed these tests, in particular those between 1966 and 1974, which we can absolutely not say that they were clean," said he declared, applauded by the audience.
France transferred in 1966 its shooting range from the Sahara to French Polynesia, on the atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa, where it carried out in 30 years 193 new tests, atmospheric until 1974, then underground.
"I want to tell you clearly that the soldiers who made them did not lie to you. They took the same risks," said Emmanuel Macron.
But, he added, "I think it's true that we wouldn't have done these same tests in the Creuse or in Brittany. We did it here because it was further away, because that it was lost in the middle of the Pacific ".
However, he declared to "fully assume" and defended the choice made by General de Gaulle and then pursued by his successors to provide France with nuclear weapons, in particular to protect French Polynesia.
- "Demagoguery" -
In his speech, the president did not ask for "forgiveness" demanded by associations of victims or the independence leader Oscar Temaru, at the initiative of a demonstration that brought together several thousand people in the streets of Papeete on July 17.
"I could get rid of the subject by saying" excuses ", as you do when you push someone aside to be able to continue on your way, it's too easy. And it's too easy for a President of the Republic of my generation. say somehow + my predecessors were wrong, the worst was done, apologies and indemnities + ".
"There is no progress in this speech, only demagoguery (...) The lies of the State continue", lamented Father Auguste Uebe-Carlson, president of the association 193, on the Polynesia channel 1ere .
But the president of Polynesia, the autonomist Edouard Fritch, welcomed the fact that Emmanuel Macron wanted "finally that the truth be put on the table" after "25 years of silence".
On the sensitive issue of compensation, Emmanuel Macron considered that it was "too slow" and announced an improvement in the processing of cases while the number of people compensated for having contracted radiation-induced diseases remains "particularly low", according to the Minister for Overseas Sébastien Lecornu.
He also indicated that the archives on the tests "will be open", except for the most sensitive military data.
These announcements come five years after the recognition, by President François Hollande during a visit in 2016, of the "impact on the environment and health" of 30 years of testing.
He then made a series of commitments, some of which have not yet materialized, such as the opening of a Nuclear Test Memory Center.
In his speech started and concluded with a few words in Polynesian, Emmanuel Macron praised the "unique intimate sensitive pact between the Republic and French Polynesia" despite the "dark hours and the bites of history". "There is one at the same time" because "you are both deeply Polynesian and deeply patriotic", he added, assuring that he would defend their will to "resist" to "revive and transmit" their culture.
On the economic front, Emmanuel Macron announced a loan of 300 million in support of investments, in particular to develop the airline company Air Tahiti Nui, as well as new tax exemption measures.
Recalling that the State devoted more than a billion and a half euros to Polynesia each year, he said that more than 600 million had been committed to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.
After visiting the Papeete hospital on his arrival on Saturday, he again urged the Polynesians to be vaccinated, "the only way out" of the crisis, stressing that of the 230,000 doses sent to the archipelago, 110,000 were still available.
Emmanuel Macron will chair the Council of Ministers by videoconference, scheduled for 1:00 p.m., from the plane that will bring him back to France.
© 2021 AFP