French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will meet Wednesday with a group of New Caledonians in a bid to restart discussions on the institutional future of the Pacific archipelago.
The French Prime Minister is convening political delegations from New Caledonia on 6 September in Paris. It would be the first time since a referendum on the status of the archipelago in 2021 that New Caledonian pro-French loyalists sit together with pro-independence groups.
In 2021, pro-independence leaders boycotted the referendum and then refused to accept its results due to low voter turnout.
Macron tells New Caledonia separatists to accept pro-France votes
During a visit to New Caledonia last July, French President Emmanuel Macron said that separatism could lead to violence in the Pacific territory, urging the pro-independence camp to accept a string of votes to stay part of France.
France vowed in the Noumea Accord of 1998 to grant more political power to its territory.
Under the agreement, New Caledonia held three referendums in the past five years over its ties with France, all rejecting independence.
Referendums
During the first referendum, on 4 November 2018, 57 percent of the voters were in favour of staying with France, with a voter turnout of 81 percent.
During the second referendum, on 4 October 2020, pro-France votes had shrunk to 53 percent (turnout 86 percent.)
However, the pro-independence indigenous Kanaks rejected the result of the last referendum held on 12 December 2021.
It resulted in a 97-percent vote against secession after Kanaks boycotted the process because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
All tri-partite discussions between loyalists, pro-independence groups and Paris then stopped.
On Wednesday, Borne and Interior Minister Gérard Darmanin will try to hammer out a new mode-de-vivre between Paris and New Caledonia.
He will discuss if more authority should be delegated to Nouméa, New Caledonia's seat of administration, enhancing the role of local institutions, and finding a compromise between loyalists and pro-independence groups.
Meanwhile, Macron has ruled out another referendum on full independence in the near future.
China's influence
But France is not interested in full independence for the territory, as the territory holds large amounts of nickel, an element that is of growing importance as it is used as a component for batteries of electric vehicles.
Another reason for maintaining a foothold in New Caledonia are the growing worries, in France and the EU, of China's increasing influence in the region.
In April last year, China signed a secretive security agreement with neighbouring Solomon Islands, and just this week, Vanuatu replaced its pro-Western Prime Minister with the more China-minded Sato Kilman, who said he would "revisit" a recently signed security pact with Australia, signalling a possible shift away from pro-Western policies endorsed by his predecessor.
Macron visited Vanuatu in July as part of his Pacific trip, on the first visit by a sitting French leader to an independent Pacific Island state, seeking to offer a French alternative in a region where the US and China are competing for influence.
(With newswires)
