France has announced a “historic” deal with New Caledonia in which the South Pacific overseas territory, which was rocked by a wave of unrest last year over controversial electoral reforms, will be declared a new state.
The 13-page accord, reached on Saturday after negotiations in Paris between the French government and groups on both sides of the territory’s independence debate, proposes the creation of a “State of New Caledonia”, with its own nationality, but stops short of the independence sought by many Indigenous Kanaks.
“A State of New Caledonia within the Republic: it’s a bet on trust,” French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X, saying that the time had come for “respect, stability, and… goodwill to build a shared future”.
Under the agreement, New Caledonia would immediately control its foreign policy, but could put the transfer of additional sovereign powers over defence, currency, security and justice to a public vote, potentially paving the way to becoming a member state of the United Nations, according to French newspaper Le Monde.
Unrest broke out in May 2024, after Paris proposed a law allowing thousands of non-Indigenous long-term residents living in the territory to vote in provincial elections, diluting a 1998 accord that restricted these rights.
Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the territory’s population of nearly 300,000, feared the move would leave them in a permanent minority, diluting their influence and crushing their chances of winning independence.
