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RNZ News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Still a lot of work to do following New Cal's 'historic' deal
The jury is still out on whether an historic deal signed by New Caledonia's pro and anti independence parties in Paris will bring an end to the impasse over the territory's future political status.
RNZ News
12-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
New Caledonia's political parties commit to 'historic' deal in France
French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls (centre) shows signatures on the last page of New Caledonia's new agreement Photo: FB supplied New Caledonia's pro-and-anti-independence parties committed on Saturday to a 'historic' deal regarding the future political status of the French Pacific territory, which is set to become, for the first time, a "State' within the French realm. The 13-page agreement, officially entitled "Agreement Project of the Future of New Caledonia", is the result of a solid 10 days of harsh negotiations between both pro and anti-independence parties who have stayed, under closed doors, at a hotel in the small city of Bougival, in the outskirts of Paris. The talks were convened by French President Emmanuel Macron, after an earlier series of talks, held between February and May 2025, failed to yield an agreement. After opening the talks on 2 July 2025, Macron handed over them to his Minister for Overseas, Manuel Valls, to oversee. Valls managed to bring together all parties around the same table earlier this year. In his opening speech earlier this month, Macron insisted on the need to restore New Caledonia's economy, which was brought to its knees following destructive and deadly riots that erupted in May 2024. He said France was ready to study any solution, including an "associated State" for New Caledonia. Group photo of participants at the end of negotiations Photo: Philippe Gomes During the following days, all political players exchanged views, under the seal of strict confidentiality. While the pro-independence movement, and its Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), remained adamant they would settle for no less than "full sovereignty", the pro-France parties were mostly arguing that three referendums, held between 2018 and 2021, had already concluded that most New Caledonians wanted New Caledonia to remain part of France. Those results, they said, dictated that the democratic result of the three consultations was to be respected. With this confrontational context, which resulted in an increasingly radicalised background in New Caledonia, that eventually led to the 2024 riots, the Bougival summit was dubbed the "summit of last chance." In the early hours of Saturday just before 7 a.m. (Paris time, 5 p.m. NZ time), after a sleepless night, the secret surrounding the Bougival talks finally ended with an announcement from Valls, who wrote in a release that all partners taking part in the talks had signed and "committed to present and defend the (agreement's) text, as it stands, on New Caledonia's future." Valls said this was a "major commitment resulting from a long work of negotiations during which New Caledonia's partners made the choice of courage and responsibility." The released document signed by almost 20 politicians, details what the deal would imply for New Caledonia's future. In its preamble, the fresh deal underlines that New Caledonia was "once again betting on trust, dialogue and peace", through "a new political organisation, a more widely shared sovereignty and an economic and social refoundation" for a "reinvented common destiny." New Caledonia's population will be called to approve the agreement in February 2026. If approved, the text would be the centrepiece of a "special organic law" voted by the local Congress. It would later have to be endorsed by the French Parliament and enshrined in a dedicated article of the French Constitution. One of the most notable developments in terms of future status for New Caledonia is the notion of a "State of New Caledonia", under a regime that would maintain it a part of France, but with a dual citizenship (France, New Caledonia). Another formulation used for the change of status is the often-used "sui generis", which in legal Latin, describes a unique evolution, comparable to no other. This would be formalised through a fundamental law to be endorsed by New Caledonia's Congress (Parliament) by a required majority of three-fifths. The number of MPs in the Congress would be 56. The text also envisages a gradual transfer of key powers currently held by France (such as international relations), but would not include portfolios such as defence, currency or justice. In diplomacy, New Caledonia would be empowered to conduct its own affairs, but "in respect of France's international commitments and vital interests." On defence matters, even though this would remain under France's powers, it is envisaged that New Caledonia would be "strongly" associated, consulted and kept informed, regarding strategy, goals and actions led by France in the Pacific region. On police and public order matters, New Caledonia would be entitled to create its own provincial and traditional security forces, in addition to national French law enforcement agencies. The sensitive issue of New Caledonia's electoral roll and conditions of eligibility to vote at local elections (including for the three Provincial Assemblies) is also mentioned in the agreement. It was this very issue that was perceived as the main trigger for the May 2024 riots, the pro-independence movement feared at the time that changing the conditions to vote would gradually place the indigenous Kanak community in a position of minority. It is now agreed that the electoral roll would be partly opened to those people of New Caledonia who were born after 1998. The roll was frozen in 2007 and restricted to people born before 1998, which is the date the previous major autonomy agreement of Nouméa was signed. Under the new proposed conditions to access New Caledonia's "citizenship", those entitled would include people who already can vote at local elections, but also their children or any person who has resided in New Caledonia for an uninterrupted ten years or who has been married or lived in a civil de facto partnership with a qualified citizen for at least five years. One of the first deadlines on the electoral calendar, the provincial elections, was to take place no later than 30 November 2025. It will be moved once again (for the third time) to May-June 2026. A significant part of the political deal is also dedicated to New Caledonia's economic "refoundation", with a high priority for the young generations, who have felt left out of the system and disenfranchised for too long. One of the main goals was to bring New Caledonia's public debts to a level of sustainability. In 2024, following the riots, France granted, in the form of loans, over one billion Euros for New Caledonia's key institutions to remain afloat. But some components of the political chessboard criticised the measure, saying this was placing the French territory in a state of excessive and long-term debt. Group photo of participants at the end of negotiations with the signed agreement Photo: Philippe_Gomes A major topic, on the macro-economic side, concerns New Caledonia's nickel mining industry, after years of decline that has left it (even before 2024) in a state of near-collapse. Nickel is regarded as the backbone of New Caledonia's economy. A nickel "strategic plan" would aim at re-starting New Caledonia nickel's processing plants, especially in the Northern province, but at the same time facilitating the export of raw nickel. There was also a will to ensure that all mining sites (many of which have been blocked and its installations damaged since the May 2024 riots) became accessible again. Meanwhile, France would push the European Union to include New Caledonia's nickel in its list of strategic resources. New Caledonia's nickel industry's woes are also caused by its lack of competitiveness on the world market (especially compared to Indonesia's recent rise in prominence in nickel production), because of the high cost of energy. Left to right – Sonia Backès, Nicolas Metzdorf, Gil Brial and Victor Tutugoro Photo: Nicolas Metzdorf The announcement, on Saturday, was followed by quick reactions, from all sides of New Caledonia's political spectrum, but also from mainland France's political leaders. French Prime Minister François Bayrou expressed "pride" to see an agreement, "on par with history", emerge. "Bravo also to the work and patience of Manuel Valls" and "the decisive implication of Emmanuel Macron", he wrote on X-Twitter. From the ranks of New Caledonia's political players, pro-France Nicolas Metzdorf said he perceived as one of the deal's main benefits the fact that "we will at last be able to project ourselves in the future, in economic, social and societal reconstruction without any deadline." Metzdorf admitted that reaching an agreement required concessions and compromise from both sides. "But the fact that we are no longer faced with referendums and to reinforce the powers of our provinces, this was our mandate", he told public broadcaster Outre-mer la 1ère. "We've had to accept this change from New Caledonia citizenship to New Caledonian nationality, which remains to be defined by New Caledonia's Congress. We have also created a completely new status as part of the French Republic, a sui generis State", he noted. He said the innovative status kept New Caledonia within France, without going as far as an "associated State" mooted earlier. "At least, what we have arrived at is that New Caledonians remain French", pro-France Le Rassemblement-LR prominent leader Virginie Ruffenach commented. "And those who want to contribute to New Caledonia's development will be able to do so through a minimum stay of residence, the right to vote and to become citizens and later New Caledonia nationals" "I'm aware that some could be wary of the concessions we made, but let's face it: New Caledonia Nationality does not make New Caledonia an independent State (...) It does not take away anything from us, neither of us belonging to the French Republic nor our French nationality", Southern Province pro-France President Sonia Backès wrote on social networks. In a joint release, the two main pro-France parties, Les Loyalistes and Rassemblement-LR, said the deal was no less than "historic" and "perennial" for New Caledonia as a whole, to "offer New Caledonia a future of peace, stability and prosperity" while at the same time considering France's Indo-Pacific strategy. From the pro-independence side, one of the negotiators, Victor Tutugoro -UNI-UPM (Progressist Union in Melanesia)- said what mattered is that "All of us have placed our bets on intelligence, beyond our respective beliefs, our positions, our postures." "We put all of these aside for the good of the country." "Of course, by definition, a compromise cannot satisfy anyone 100 percent. But it's a balanced compromise for everyone," he said. "And it allows us to look ahead, to build New Caledonia together, a citizenship and this common destiny everyone's been talking about for many years." Before politicians fly back to New Caledonia to present the deal to their respective bases, President Macron received all delegation members Saturday evening (Paris time) to congratulate them on their achievements. During the Presidential meeting at the Elysée palace, FLNKS chief negotiator Emmanuel Tjibaou (whose father Jean-Marie Tjibaou also struck a historic agreement and shook hands with pro-France leader Jacques Lafleur, in 1988), stressed the agreement was one step along the path and it allows to envisage new perspectives for the Kanak people. A sign of the changing times, but in a striking parallel: 37 years after his father's historic handshake with Lafleur, Emmanuel Tjibaou (whose father was shot dead in 1989 by a radical pro-independence partisan who felt the independence cause had been betrayed), did not shake hands, but instead fist pumped with pro-France's Metzdorf. In a brief message on social networks, the French Head of State hailed the conclusive talks, which he labelled "A State of New Caledonia within the (French) Republic," a win for a "bet on trust." "Now is the time for respect, for stability and for the sum of good wills to build a shared future." Signatures on the last page of New Caledonia's new agreement Photo: Philippe Dunoyer
RNZ News
04-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Macron suggests new options for New Caledonia's future status
Demonstration in support New Caledonia against the unfreezing of the electoral body, Place de la Republique, in Paris. 25 May 2024. Photo: AFP / Fiora Garenzi / Hans Lucas French President Emmanuel Macron's has unveiled a range of options regarding New Caledonia's future political status at a "New Caledonia summit" in Paris this week. Speaking at the opening session of an open-ended forum dedicated to the French Pacific territory - but behind closed doors - Macron was reported as mentioning, as part of a range of possible options, an "associated State" status for New Caledonia, with a "strong link with France". Other options mentioned by the French Head of State include a status quo or a "large autonomy". However, all options would be tied to a necessary "reconstruction" and refoundation" period of "15 to 20 years" in order to rebuild New Caledonia's economic and social fabric that has been severely damaged following riots that took place in May 2024. The riots resulted in 14 deaths and over €2 billion in material damage, triggering a downfall of an estimated 15 to 20 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and leaving thousands of people unemployed. During the transition period, New Caledonia would be ruled by a specific "fundamental law", a de facto constitution enshrined in the French Constitution that would replace the 1998 Nouméa Accord. At the end of the transition period, a referendum would be held to endorse a "project" for New Caledonia's socio-economic model. France's President Emmanuel Macron, left, France's Minister of Overseas Manuel Valls, France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, President of the French National Assembly Yael Braun-Pivet, Secretary General of the French Presidency Emmanuel Moulin, first vice-president of the customary senate of New Caledonia Ludovic Boula, representative of the second vice-president of the customary senate Victor Gogny, and President of the customary senate Aguetil Mahe Gowe attend a custom ceremony as the inauguration of a summit on New Caledonia at the Elysee Palace in Paris on 2 July 2025. Photo: AFP / Ludovic Marin The presidential statements have triggered several reactions from all sides of New Caledonia's political chessboard. On the pro-France side of parties that want New Caledonia to remain part of France, New Caledonia's Southern Province President Sonia Backès said she favoured the notion of a 15 to 20 years transitional period, but remained "totally opposed" to the notion of an associated State. On the pro-independence side, the mention of an Associated State prompted positive, albeit cautious reactions from the main independence movement, the FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front). Its chief negotiator, Emmanuel Tjibaou, during a press conference held on the margins of the summit on Thursday, told media Macron's initial speech was "interesting", especially the fact that the word "associated State" was uttered. "We're interested in this. It commits us to a trajectory". Tjibaou however said their camp required that all this be "put to paper, in writing". "We remain vigilant, we need concrete and written elements (from France)", he said. "We discuss and then we go back to our base to validate the process (...) That's how we operate". President of the French National Assembly Yael Braun-Pivet (L), France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, France's President Emmanuel Macron, France's Minister of Overseas Manuel Valls and President of the French Senate Gerard Larcher attend a session of a summit on New Caledonia at the Elysee Palace in Paris on 2 July 2025. Photo: AFP / Ludovic / Marin But other FLNKS representatives remain doubtful that any sort of agreement would be inked, at least not this time, "even if we stay one week, two weeks, one month", said delegation member Mickaël Forrest during the same media conference. The conference was also attended by FLNKS president Christian Téin, who attempted to join the "summit" on Wednesday but was denied access because he was not on the list of invited guests. "(Macron) holds the keys to his house. I accept that", Téin said, adding he fully trusted the FLNKS delegation. Téin was released from a jail in Mulhouse (North-East of France), where he spent one year, after he was arrested. Under lighter judicial control conditions, he is now awaiting trial for criminal-related charges, but is not to interfere with persons related to his case and is still not allowed to return to New Caledonia. Talks are still underway among delegations of political representatives, all gathered behind closed doors in a hotel in the city of Bougival (West of Paris). There is no specified duration for the series of political meetings, which could last "as long as necessary". New Caledonia's FLNKS chief negotiator Emmanuel Tjibaou (L) and FLNKS President Christian Téin at a media conference on 3 July 2025. Photo: Supplied / Outremer la 1ère In parallel to the political talks this week in Paris, another conference is also dedicated to New Caledonia's necessary economic reform, including the crucial nickel mining industry, which is also facing a near-collapse situation. The so-called "Economic and Social College" started on Thursday, at the French Ministry for Overseas and is expected to last until Friday. There are four themes organised into roundtables and workshops: the reform of New Caledonia's economic and social fabric, including taxes, the nickel industry, the economy's diversification and its relations to Pacific neighbours. The guest, State Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls, is flanked by Minister for public accounts Amélie de Montchalin. She stressed the interdependence between economy and politics. "While economy is essential to (New Caledonia's) success, a political agreement is also essential to the economy's rebound", she said. Business leaders in the French Pacific territory have consistently stressed the need for "visibility", security and stability if New Caledonia was to remain attractive to existing and potential investors. The meeting also involves politicians as well as Mayors of New Caledonia and socio-economic and civil society stakeholders. Business leaders association MEDEF-NC leader Mimsy Daly hailed the approach, but said now was the time to "take into account New Caledonians' suffering on a daily basis." "We hope something positive will come out of this quickly."
