The French government has ruled out organising a referendum on a new statute for New Caledonia next year.
The interior minister Gerald Darmanin told the Senate law commission that it would be difficult to hold such a vote in 2023 as originally suggested.
A commission member working on the new statute Philippe Bas said it was wise to hold off with the plan because it would have been hard to keep to the original timeline.
Gerald Darmanin Photo: AFP
Another member Jean-Pierre Sueur said in addition it would be almost utopian to expect the National Assembly and the Senate to meet before the end of 2023 to approve any constitutional change.
Last December, the then overseas minister Sebastien Lecornu said Paris planned to draw up a new statute for a New Caledonia within France and put it to a vote in New Caledonia by June 2023.
Lecornu made the announcement just days after the third and final referendum on independence from France under the Noumea Accord saw a majority reject full sovereignty.
The pro-independence camp had however boycotted the vote and while refusing to recognise the result, it was reluctant to engage in the process proposed by Lecornu.
In September, the new overseas minister Jean-Francois Carenco visited New Caledonia and conceded that it was difficult to keep to the June 2023 deadline, leaving it open that it could be ready later in the year.
Both Darmanin and Carenco are due in New Caledonia later this month for talks on the territory's future.
Jean-Francois Carenco Photo: BERTRAND GUAY
Last month, the French prime minister Elisabeth Borne hosted what Paris called the Convention of Partners, which was meant to be the first formal gathering of the signatories to the Noumea Accord since its expiry.
However, the pro-independence FLNKS reneged on its earlier commitment to go to Paris and its delegates stayed in New Caledonia.
A leading FLNKS member Gilbert Tyuienon said the Caledonian Union had only agreed to go if certain conditions were met.
He told La Premiere what was discussed in Paris was a matter only for those who were present.
Caledonian Union adamant on decolonisation
Tyuienon signalled that the talks in New Caledonia would have to be a bilateral exchange with the French state, adding that this wouldn't be a 'chat between coffee buddies' but a discussion between the coloniser and the colonised.
He reiterated that while the Caledonian Union would never recognise the outcome of last December's referendum, the party was committed to the step-by-step construction of a new country as envisaged in the Noumea Accord.
Tyuienon said his party doesn't trust the French state at all as it insisted on organising the last referendum against the will of the pro-independence camp.
Gilbert Tyuienon Photo: AFP/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN
He said many, including some at the top of the French state, concluded that New Caledonia no longer had a claim to independence.
However, he said one should remember the words of the Kanak leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, who pointed out that as long as there is a Kanak left, there will be a demand for independence.
Tyuienon also warned against changing the electoral rolls to accommodate French migrants, saying the rolls are restricted to allow New Caledonians to run their own affairs.
He said challenging this amounted to 'the mother of all battles' and put the peace given with the Noumea Accord into question.
Tyuienon added that it wasn't France that could guarantee durable peace but the FLNKS and therefore there were things that should not be touched.