Macron invites all New Caledonia stakeholders for Paris talks
Macron, right, with New Caledonia Congress former presidents Louis Mapou, left, and Roch Wamytan, centre, last year. (file image)
Photo:
supplied
French President Emmanuel Macron has sent a formal invitation to "all New Caledonia stakeholders" for talks in Paris on the French Pacific territory's political and economic future to be held on 2 July.
The confirmation came on Thursday in the form of a letter sent individually to an undisclosed list of recipients and dated 24 June.
The talks follow a series of roundtables fostered earlier this year by French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls.
But the
latest talks
, held in New Caledonia under a so-called "conclave" format, stalled on 8 May.
This was mainly because several main components of the pro-France (anti-independence) parties said the draft agreement proposed by Valls was tantamount to a form of independence, which they reject.
The project implied that New Caledonia's future political status vis-à-vis France could be an associated independence "within France" with a transfer of key powers (justice, defence, law and order, foreign affairs, currency ), a dual New Caledonia-France citizenship and an international standing.
Instead, the pro-France Rassemblement-LR and Loyalistes suggested another project of "internal federalism" which would give more powers (including on tax matters) to each of the three provinces, a notion often criticised as a de facto partition of New Caledonia.
In May 2024, on the sensitive issue of eligibility at local elections, deadly riots broke out in New Caledonia, resulting in 14 deaths and over €2 billion in material damage.
In his letter, Macron writes that although Valls "managed to restore dialogue...this did not allow reaching an agreement on (New Caledonia's) institutional future".
"This is why I decided to host, under my presidency, a summit dedicated to New Caledonia and associating the whole of the territory's stakeholders".
Macron also wrote that "beyond institutional topics, I wish that our exchanges can also touch on (New Caledonia's) economic and societal issues".
Macron made earlier announcements, including on 10 June 2025, on the margins of the recent UNOC Oceans Summit in Nice (France), when he dedicated a significant part of his speech to Pacific leaders attending a "Pacific-France" summit to the situation in New Caledonia.
"Our exchanges will last as long as it takes so that the heavy topics...can be dealt with with all the seriousness they deserve".
Macron also points out that after New Caledonia's "crisis" broke out on 13 May 2024, "the tension was too high to allow for an appeased dialogue between all the components of New Caledonia's society".
Letter sent by French President Emmanuel Macron to New Caledonia's stakeholders for Paris talks on 2 July 2025.
Photo:
Supplied
The main political objective of the talks remains to find a comprehensive agreement between all local political stakeholders, in order to arrive at a new agreement that would define the French Pacific territory's political future and status.
This would then allow to replace the 27-year-old "Nouméa Accord", signed in 1998.
The 1998 pact puts a heavy focus on the notions of "living together" and "common destiny" for New Caledonia's indigenous Kanaks and all of the other components of its ethnically and culturally diverse society.
It was also mentioning a necessary economic "re-balancing" between the Northern, Islands provinces and the more affluent Southern province, where the capital Nouméa is located.
The Nouméa Accord also contained provisions to hold three referendums on self-determination.
The three polls took place in 2018, 202 and 2021, all of those resulting in a majority of people rejecting independence.
But the last referendum, in December 2021, was largely boycotted by the pro-independence movement.
According to the Nouméa Accord, after those three referendums were held, political stakeholders were to "examine the situation thus created", Macron recalls.
But despite several attempts, including under previous governments, to promote political talks, the situation has remained deadlocked and increasingly polarised between the pro-independence and the pro-France camps.
A few days after the May 2024 riots, Macron made a trip to New Caledonia, calling for the situation to be appeased so that talks could resume.
In his 10 June speech to Pacific leaders, Macron also mentioned a "new project" and in relation to the past referendums process, pledged "not to make the same mistakes again".
He said he believed the referendum, as an instrument, was not necessarily adapted to Melanesian and Kanak cultures.
In practice, the Paris "summit" would also involve French minister for Overseas Manuel Valls.
The list of invited participants would include all parties, pro-independence and pro-France, represented at New Caledonia's Congress (the local parliament).
But it would also include a number of economic stakeholders, as well as a delegation of Mayors of New Caledonia, as well as representatives of the civil society and NGOs.
Talks could also come in several formats, with the political side being treated separately.
The pro-independence platform FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) has to decide at the weekend whether it will take part in the Paris talks.
During a whirlwind visit to New Caledonia in June 2024, Macron met Christian Téin, the leader of a pro-independence CCAT (Field Action Coordination Cell), created by Union Calédonienne (UC).
Téin was arrested and jailed in mainland France.
In August 2024, while in custody in the prison of Mulhouse -North-east of France), he was elected, in absentia, President of a UC-dominated FLNKS.
Even though he remains prosecuted for allegedly being one of the masterminds of the May 2024 riots, Téin was released from jail on 12 June 2025, under the condition that he does not travel to New Caledonia and reports regularly to French judges.
On the pro-France side, Téin's release triggered mixed angry reactions.
"To liberate Christian Téin just a few days away from the final negotiation on New Caledonia's future is a very bad signal sent by the French justice", he told pro-France Radio Rythme Bleu on 13 June 2025.
"I, personally, will not go to the negotiating table with Christian Téin. This is one condition we are posing to the French State", he stressed.
Other pro-France hard-line components said the Kanak leader's participation to the Paris talks was simply "unthinkable".
Pro-independence Tjibaou said Téin's release was "a sign of appeasement", but that his participation was probably subject to "conditions".
"But I'm not the one who makes the invitations", he told public broadcaster NC la 1ère on 15 June 2025.
FLNKS spokesman Dominique Fochi said in a release Téin's participation in the talks was earlier declared a prerequisite.
"Now our FLNKS President has been released. He's the FLNKS boss and we are awaiting his instructions", Fochi said.
At former roundtables earlier this year, the FLNKS delegation was headed by Union Calédonienne (UC, the main and dominating component of the FLNKS) President Emmanuel Tjibaou.
Manuel Valls takes part in the welcoming ceremony.
Photo:
Delphine Mayeur / Hans Lucas / AFP
In a press conference on Tuesday in Paris, Valls elaborated some more on the upcoming Paris talks.
"Obviously there will be a sequence of political negotiations which I will lead with all of New Caledonia's players, that is all groups represented at the Congress. But there will also be an economic and social sequence with economic, social and societal players who will be invited", Valls said.
During question time at the French National Assembly in Paris on 3 June 2025, Valls said he remained confident that it was "still possible" to reach an agreement and to "reconcile" the "contradictory aspirations" of the pro-independence and pro-France camps.
During the same sitting, pro-France New Caledonia MP Nicolas Metzdorf decried what he termed "France's lack of ambition" and his camp's feeling of being "let down".
The other MP for New Caledonia's, pro-independence Emmanuel Tjibaou, also took the floor to call on France to "close the colonial chapter" and that France has to "take its part in the conclusion of the emancipation process" of New Caledonia.
"With the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, and the political forces, we will make offers, while concluding the decolonisation process, the self-determination process, while respecting New Caledonians' words and at the same time not forgetting history, and the past that have led to the disaster of the 1980s and the catastrophe of May 2024", he replied.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Why most Pacific governments stand with Israel
A supporter of Israel holds an Israeli flag in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, on 8 October. Photo: JULIA NIKHINSON / AFP Amid uncertainty in the Middle East, one thing remains clear: most Pacific governments continue to align themselves with Israel. Steven Ratuva, distinguished professor of Pacific Studies at Canterbury University, told RNZ that island leaders are likely to try and keep their distance, but only officially speaking. "They'd probably feel safer that way, rather than publicly taking sides. But I think quite a few of them would probably be siding with Israel." With Iran and Israel trading blows last week, Ratuva said that is translating into deeper divisions along religious and political lines in Pacific nations. "People may not want to admit it, but it's manifesting itself in different ways." Photo: 123RF The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on 13 June calling for "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza", passing with 142 votes, or a 73 percent majority. Among the 12 nations that voted against the resolution , alongside Israel and the United States, were Fiji, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Tuvalu. Among the regional community, only Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands voted for the resolution, while others abstained or were absent. Last week, Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, in an interview with The Australian , defended Israel's actions in Iran as an act of survival. "They cannot survive if there is a big threat capability within range of Israel. Whatever [Israel] are doing now can be seen as pre-emptive, knocking it out before it's fired on you." In February, Fiji also committed to an embassy in Jerusalem - a recognition of Israel's right to call the city their capital - mirroring Papua New Guinea in 2023. Ratuva said that deep, longstanding, religious and political ties with the West are what ground the regions ties with Israel. "Most of the Pacific Island states have been aligned with the US since the Cold War and beyond, so the Western sphere of influence is seen as, for many of them, the place to be." He noted the rise in Christian evangelism, which is aligned with Zionism and the global push for a Jewish homeland, in pockets throughout the Pacific, particularly in Fiji. "Small religious organisations which have links with or model selves along the lines of the United States evangelical movement, which has been supportive of Trump, tend to militate towards supporting Israel for religious reasons." "And of course, religion and politics, when you mix them together, become very powerful in terms of one's positioning (in the world)." Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii In Fijian society, Ratuva said that the war in Gaza has stoked tensions between the Christian majority and the Muslim minority. According to the CIA World Factbook, roughly 64.5 percent of Fijians are Christian, compared to a Muslim population of 6.3 percent. "It's coming out very clearly, in terms of the way in which those belonging to the fundamentalist political orientation tend to make statements which are against non-Christians" Ratuva said. "People begin to take in some ways deepens the religious divide, particularly in Fiji which is multi-ethnic and multi-religious, and where the Islamic community is relatively significant." A statement from the Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat, released on Wednesday, said that the Pacific wishes to be an "ocean of peace". "Leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to the Friends to All, Enemy to None Foreign Policy to guide the MSG Members' relationship with countries and Development Partners." It bookends a summit that brought together leaders from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and other Melanesian nations, where the Middle East was discussed, according to local media. But the Pacific region had been used in a deceptive strategy as the US prepared for the strikes on Iran. On this matter, Melanesian leaders did not respond to requests for comment. Israeli rescuers search through the rubble of a heavily damaged building, following an overnight Iranian missile strike in Bat Yam on 15 June 2025. Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen / AFP The BBC reported on Monday that B-2 planes flew to Guam from Missouri as a decoy to distract from top-secret flights headed over the Atlantic to Iran. This sparked outrage from civil society leaders throughout the region, including the head of the Pacific Conference of Churches, Reverend James Bhagwan. "This use of Pacific airspace and territory for military strikes violates the spirit of the Treaty of Rarotonga, our region's declaration for being a nuclear, free peace committed zone." "Our region has a memory of nuclear testing, occupation and trauma... we don't forget that when we talk about these issues." Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Photo: GPO / AFP Bhagwan told RNZ that there is no popular support for Israel's most recent actions in the Pacific. "This is because we have international law... this includes, of course, the US strikes on Iran and perhaps, also, Israel's actions in Gaza." "It is not about religion, it is about people." Bhagwan, whose organisation represents 27 member churches across 17 Pacific nations, refused to say whether he believed there was a link between christian fundamentalism and Pacific support for Israel. "We can say that there is a religious contingency within the Pacific that does support Israel... it does not necessarily mean it's the majority view, but it is one that is seriously considered by those in power." "It depends on how those (politicians) consider that support they get from those particular aspects of the community." For some, the religious commitment runs so deep that they venture to Israel in a kind of pilgrimage. Ratuva told RNZ that there is a significant population of islanders in the region, many of whom may now be trapped before a ceasefire is finalised. "There was a time when the Gaza situation began to unfold, when a number of people from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa were there for pilgrimage purposes." "At that time there were significant numbers, and Fiji was able to fly over there to evauate them. So this time, I'm not sure whether that might happen." Bhagwan said that the religious ties run deep. "They go to Jerusalem, to Bethlehem, to the Mount of Olives, to the Golan Heights, where the transfiguration took place. Fiji also is stationed in the Golan Heights as peacekeepers." "So there is a correlation, particularly for Pacific or for Fijian communities, on that relationship as peacekeepers in that region."
RNZ News
4 hours ago
- RNZ News
Deep sea mining decision already made, Cook Islands opposition leader says
Cook Islands nodule field - photo taken within Cook Islands EEZ. Photo: Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority The Cook Islands' opposition leader believes the government has already decided it wants to pursue deep sea mining despite the science being inconclusive. Tina Browne has called for a pause on "the aggressive promotion of mining" by her government. However, she said she was fine with exploration and exploitation - the actual mining - if it is deemed environmentally safe. When asked how this position differed from the government's, she said, "The feeling that we have is that, while we want to tread cautiously and have the data available and the decisions made for safety, the government is promoting it in such a way that it has already determined it is safe." The Cook Islands is currently exploring the possibility of developing the industry but has not yet begun the actual mining. The Seabed Minerals Authority (SMA) is the government body in charge of deep sea mining in the Cook Islands. SMA's knowledge management director John Parionos said the National Environment Service is responsible for managing the process before an environmental project permit is issued. "This process is clear and legally mandated," Parionos said. He said it included the provision of a detailed environmental impact statement by the companies. While the authority and the National Environment Service have commissioned a strategic environmental assessment. "The [strategic environmental assessment's] purpose is to inform policy, not authorize any particular project to proceed to commercial minerals harvesting or other mining," Parionos said. "The results of the [strategic environmental assessment] thus far are encouraging but show key areas of uncertainty." Tina Browne Photo: Cook Islands News Browne said she did not want to be driven by the economic benefits of mining. "I want us to apply a lot of common sense and wisdom to the whole thing and not just be driven by the need to get money," she said. "We say that we are doing this for the future of our children, the children are saying, 'Well, there's not enough of us at these consultation meetings. "It's the same old elderly adults who are leaving us soon, we should be the ones to have a say in what we want for our future'."
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- RNZ News
Minister fears public funding used for electioneering
media te ao Maori about 1 hour ago Minister Tama Potaka is concerned that public funding may have been used for electioneering, after a Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency advertisement encouraging Māori to sign up for the Māori electoral roll was released this week. Potaka spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.
