Six months to the day after the start of the riots which engulfed New Caledonia, Gérard Larcher, the president of the Senate, and Yaël Braun-Pivet, the president of the National Assembly, left the archipelago, at the end of a three-day marathon mission intended to reconnect the threads of dialogue between the Caillou political groups.
A cataclysm
From the districts of Nouméa, with their scars still alive, to the ruins of industrial and commercial zones, including the overcrowded jails of the East Camp, they were able to take stock of the cataclysm which befell the archipelago from May 13, the day after the vote at the Palais-Bourbon on the constitutional bill aimed at expanding the electorate.
Beyond the exceptional nature of the joint presence of the two Presidents of Parliament, it is also a change of method that emerges from this visit. “While three decades of shared efforts had made it possible to move forward step by step, the events that have occurred since May give the feeling of a terrible step backwards, declared Gérard Larcher during his speech to elected representatives of Congress on Tuesday, November 12. The camps are becoming radicalized, the speeches are sometimes the opposite of the notions of respect, sharing and dialogue. We must all realize that we have failed to prevent such a catastrophe, through our decisions or our lack of decisions. Each of us has the ardent obligation to examine our conscience, because we are responsible. And I am not exonerating the State from its responsibilities. Caledonian time cannot be set in Parisian offices. This is where the dialogue clocks must be set. »
A method based on listening and unanimously welcomed by the entire political spectrum and the economic world. “We welcome the approachindicates Jean-Pierre Djaïwé, president of the National Union for the Independence of the Congress of New Caledonia group, at the end of the forty-minute interview granted to each group of the popular representation of the archipelago. They are not there to write yet another report on New Caledonia, but to send the right information to the government so that it does not make the same mistakes. »
“This is not a mission like any other, supports his political opponent Alcide Ponga, leader of the Rally (LR). This is our lifeline.We have to get out of this by March 2025. They came to remind us that there is a path to take together to give perspective to all Caledonians. »
A “shared sovereignty”?
If no timetable has been formally established, the provincial elections intended to renew the Caledonian institutions must be held in November 2025. To allow each camp to campaign and enlighten Caledonians, it will be necessary to make proposals for a draft plan. status for the archipelago from the start of next year.
Among the avenues mentioned to break the deadlock, the President of the Senate evokes without taboo a “shared sovereignty”. “It is illusory to attach ourselves to an overly legal or too doctrinal conception of the notion of sovereignty, recalled Gérard Larcher. In our world, from the Pacific to Europe, there are only shared sovereignties. It is a choice which is not necessarily binary and which can involve an imaginative and original construction, within the Republic if the Caledonians wish it, and this is my personal wish. I know that such a project was the subject, before May 13, of intense discussions and numerous exchanges. The challenge is therefore not insurmountable, especially since New Caledonia has been a laboratory for new solutions for several decades. It is enough to move away from certain postures which only unnecessarily aggravate divisions and to find a way to reconcile the link with France and the aspiration for emancipation. »
A notion that easily resonates in the camp of supporters of independence. “I have no taboo regarding thatcowardly Emmanuel Tjibaou, independence MP. We have already decided on independence in partnership or with modalities of sovereignty to be integrated.”
Nicolas Metzdorf, the second non-independence MP for the archipelago is less enthusiastic: “An independent association, I don’t want to hear about it. As for shared sovereignty, I don’t know what it is. The problem is that they use words but we don’t know what they contain. We hear a lot of vague concepts without knowing what’s behind them. »
“The path to forgiveness will not be easyadmits Yaël Braun-Pivet, the president of the National Assembly. But all the partners we met expressed their desire to dialogue. We are here to support and we will do it without forgetting anyone”she promises. The two presidents flew to Paris on Wednesday evening. The ball is now in the court of New Caledonian elected officials.
