Is this the beginning of a lasting peace in Nouméa? On the move in New Caledonia, the Minister of Overseas, Manuel Valls, opened this Wednesday, February 26, “institutional negotiations” with all local representatives, according to his ministry.
The delegations met Wednesday at the headquarters of the High Commission, the representative of the State on the spot, in Noumea. All the guest groups responded, including the delegation of the Kanak National Liberation Front and Socialist (FLNKS), the main independence group which confirmed its presence on Tuesday evening. “After first days with the Caledonians on the ground, a new stage opens this morning with the start of institutional negotiations,” said the overseas ministry on the social network X.
“Without political compromise, no economic future”
After a meeting with all independentist political forces and non-independence on Wednesday morning (during the night in Paris), the minister received the various movements in bilateral meetings in the afternoon, before a new plenary session in the evening. Arrived on Saturday, Manuel Valls pleaded Tuesday for peace and “living together” on the eve of these negotiations, in which the separatists agreed to participate. “Without political compromise, no economic future. Without dialogue, no lasting peace,” said the overseas ministry on X Wednesday morning. “New Caledonia deserves that everyone stands up to the historic moment,” he added.
These trilaterals – State, separatists and non -independence – on the institutional future of New Caledonia are the first discussions putting around the table these three actors since brief discussions at the Elysée in September 2023, quickly aborted following What the FLNKS announced to suspend the dialogue. The latter had continued between loyalists and separatists but was broken since the violent riots of May 2024, who left 14 dead and more than two billion euros in damage, in reaction to the government’s government of the Caledonian electoral body.
After a hectic arrival, French pro-Caledonia residents criticizing him a posture deemed too conciliatory with the separatists and a denial of the 2018, 2020 and 2021 self-determination referendums, Manuel Valls had first gathered all the delegations on Monday to explain his method and fix your work areas. These revolve around the “link with France”, which encompasses the right to self-determination, decolonization and the ultrasensible question of the electoral body, “governance” and the skills of local institutions and finally the definition of a “new social contract”, with the emphasis on youth.
Announcements of aid expected
“New Caledonia is going through a historic moment which requires everyone to rise to the height of their responsibilities,” said Manuel Valls, quoted in the press release. The overseas minister also decided to extend his day’s stay on Saturday, to “give the discussion all the odds,” he said before the opening of negotiations .
On the sidelines of negotiations with political parties, Manuel Valls must also meet the mayors of the archipelago, who expect the state of the aid after the blockages aroused by the riots of 2024. “We will have to help us in 2025 as it did at the end of 2024, first on our current operation: school transport, canteens, water, electricity, employees, garbage collection, “said Pascal Vittori, the president of the French Association of Mayors of New Caledonia, questioned by the chain Overseas the first.