Édouard Philippe had praised an
“extraordinary process”
at work in New Caledonia, but his successor has so far only followed it from afar.
For the first time since his appointment, Jean Castex invited New Caledonian political leaders to Paris, facing institutional uncertainty ahead of the last referendum on independence scheduled for October 2022 at the latest - the final step in the process. 'a thirty-year-long process of decolonization.
Read also: The keys to understanding the issues in New Caledonia before the referendum
Failing to submit to a compulsory fortnight to travel to New Caledonia, the Prime Minister offers the local political class a
"session of exchanges and work"
from May 25 to June 3 in Matignon, traditional theater of discussions between separatists and non-separatists, since the end of the 1980s.
"Dialogue is more necessary than ever and the government of the Republic wishes to play its full part"
, he wrote in a letter dated April 6, that
Le Figaro
s 'is provided.
Subtle exercise
With less than eighteen months of a very likely third and final referendum on independence, the Prime Minister is trying to relaunch a stalled political process, against the backdrop of the crisis in the budget and the nickel industry.
He also hopes to send a signal to an archipelago emerging from four weeks of confinement decreed in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic.
"Faced with health and economic difficulties (...), the government of the Republic is mobilizing exceptional resources, thus showing its special attachment to your territory"
, assures Jean Castex.
To read also: New Caledonia: since the departure of Philippe, a file neglected by Castex
The arrival in October of the Minister of Overseas Territories, Sébastien Lecornu, after a second narrow victory of “no” (53.26%) at independence, had made it possible to re-establish a fragile dialogue between the two opposing camps, separatists and not. -independent.
But this balance had been upset by the conflict over the future of the important nickel plant Vale NC, in the Southern Province.
An agreement was finally reached in March, opening up the prospect of resuming political discussions on the exit from the Noumea Accord signed in 1998, which provides for up to three self-determination referendums.
To read also: New Caledonia: how to explain the independence push?
The institutional future of New Caledonia must be the subject of a specific debate scheduled in the Senate on May 4, in which Jean Castex must participate, according to our information.
The exercise is all the more subtle for the Prime Minister as he faces an unprecedented political landscape, with separatists for the first time in the majority in the local government, the archipelago's executive body.
But the new "ministers" have not succeeded in electing a new president for two months, for lack of agreement between the separatists.
