Gerard Larcher, President of the French Senate, and Yaël Braun-Pivet, President of the French National Assembly, are in New Caledonia on a mission of dialogue.
These two high-ranking officials of the French state are seeking to do what French President Emmanuel Macron has failed to do: pick up the pieces of a shattered New Caledonia.Last May, riots ravaged entire districts of Grand-Nouméa. The result was the biggest economic crisis Caledonia has ever seen. Hundreds of businesses were destroyed. Thirteen people were killed. The crisis followed the French President’s refusal to withdraw his plan to unfreeze the electoral body. The idea was to allow recently arrived French citizens from mainland France to vote in local elections. The independentists were opposed. They feared being “drowned” by immigration from France. For them, it was a form of “recolonization” of New Caledonia.
Independence-association with France
After the riots, the draft text was finally withdrawn. Gerard Larcher and Yaël Braun-Pivet spent three days meeting political leaders from all parties. The road to agreement is still long, but the mood is now serene. The two parliamentarians spoke of “shared sovereignty”. This suggests that Caledonia is moving towards greater autonomy. It could even be a kind of “independence-association”, rather like that of the Cook Islands with New Zealand. Others speak of federalism. Several pro-independence and non-independence parties are in favor of this solution. What remains to be done is to convince the most right-wing of the loyalists, embodied by Sonia Backès, and the most pro-independence members of the Union calédonienne.Meanwhile, the pro-independence leaders considered responsible for the riots are awaiting trial in French prisons…
