Macron: New Caledonia reforms “paused”, not revoked

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he had decided to “suspend” rather than revoke New Caledonia’s controversial constitutional amendment. sparked violent unrest in the French Pacific Islands.

The French president referred to all the “pending projects” of the dissolved National Assembly at a press conference in Paris, saying “I hope that they can be resumed after the majority is confirmed, expanded or agreed with other partners (after the early elections)”.

Regarding New Caledonia’s constitutional bill, Macron said that “both houses of parliament voted on the same terms.”

“I have decided to suspend the negotiations,” he said, adding: “There should be no room for ambiguity during this period. The talks must be suspended to maximize dialogue on the ground and restore order.”

On May 23, during a quick visit to New Caledonia, Macron said he would convene parliament by the end of June but would not “force” the passage of the controversial text..

He said at the time he agreed to wait a while to allow for inclusive talks among local leaders on New Caledonia’s long-term political future, but the end-June deadline remains.

On Sunday, Macron unexpectedly announced the dissolution of the French National Assembly (lower house) and announced early general elections on June 30 and July 7.

Analysis – What this means

Now that the parliament has been dissolved and a general election has been called, New Situation Technically, this means that the adopted text (which still requires final approval by the French Parliament) is not actually possible to apply in its current form: the Constitution, approved by both chambers in its current form, is formulated in such a way that it “will enter into force on July 1, 2024” (Article 2).

But at present, the new House of Commons will not be established until mid-July, and the French Parliament (including the National Assembly) will not be able to meet before then.

If, as he said on Wednesday, Macron still wants to resume all the “pending projects” after the early election, then this may depend on the outcome of the election and what kind of majority will emerge.

It is likely, then, that even if there were a desire to restore the Constitutional Act of New Caledonia, it would have to be amended (changing the date of July 1, 2024 in article 2 to that date) and then it would have to return to the origin of the legislative process, with a vote each in the Upper and Lower Houses and then a final vote by a joint sitting of the two chambers of Congress.

The amendment aims to modify the voting system for local elections in New Caledonia, in particular the eligibility rules for voting (for New Caledonia’s three provinces and the local council).

The bill was approved by the National Assembly on May 14 and by the Senate (upper house) a few weeks ago on April 2.

However, the proposed constitutional amendment – which would open the eligible voter list to about 25,000 citizens, most of whom are non-indigenous Kanaks – remains in limbo as it needs to go through the final stages.

This final step, which is currently unavailable, is a vote in the French parliament, during a special session of the Senate and National Assembly, which would require a 60% majority.

Local political parties react

On Wednesday, hours before Macron’s latest comments, PALIKA, one of the more moderate parties in the pro-independence Kanak Liberation Party of New Caledonia (FLNKS) platform, said in a press release that it considered the controversial constitutional amendment to the local electoral roll to be now “obsolete.”

PALIKA therefore calls for the removal of all obstacles put in place by hardline independence groups, including the Caledonian Alliance and its “CCAT” (Committee for Coordination of Field Actions), in order to begin to reach a comprehensive agreement on the political future of New Caledonia.

The moderate independent party said the call came after Macron dissolved the National Assembly.

The FLNKS will hold its national congress on 15 June.

Since last month, pro-independence and pro-French political parties, as well as religious and civil society leaders, have called for the complete scrapping of the text of the agreement as a precondition for restoring some degree of domestic peace and normalcy in the French Pacific island nation.

A similar call was made by the former French prime minister, who had direct responsibility for New Caledonia affairs during his tenure.

Mapp: ‘The life of this constitution is over’

Even before Macron announced the dissolution of the state, New Caledonia President Louis Mapou referred to the controversial text in a speech over the weekend.

Mr Mapou said the current unrest in New Caledonia, sparked mainly by pro-independence parties, effectively “marks the end of this constitution”.

But he also called on Macron to make it clear that he intended to withdraw the controversial text, which is seen as The main causes of unrest in New Caledonia.

He said the text of the agreement was “unilaterally determined” by France and “reopened a wound that took a long time to heal.”

He said the constitution “goes against the trend of New Caledonia’s recent history” and is “useless because it must be part of a global project.”

“Therefore, in my humble opinion, this Constitution cannot continue to exist.”

“The French president said (in Noumea last month) that the agreement would not be forced through, which also meant the death and slow abandonment of the agreement…

“It is difficult to imagine that the president still wants to introduce this constitutional bill (in the French parliament),” Mapou said.

A “dialogue mission” consisting of three senior civil servants was in New Caledonia from May 23 until last week.

Its mission is to restart negotiations among all local political parties as well as economic, religious and civil society stakeholders.

The overall goal is to reach consensus on the political future of New Caledonia.

Last week, the three returned to Paris to brief the president.

When they left last week they said they were returning to New Caledonia.

The violent unrest that began last month has led to burning, looting and rioting, leaving nine people dead (including two French gendarmes), up to five hundred businesses destroyed, around two hundred houses burned, and damage estimated at up to 1 billion euros.