Emmanuel Macron holding a press conference on Wednesday 12 June 2024 in Paris Photo: Supplied
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he had decided to "suspend", not to withdraw, New Caledonia's controversial constitutional amendment which triggered violent unrest in the French Pacific archipelago.
During a press conference in Paris, the French President mentioned all of the now-dissolved National Assembly's "pending projects", saying "my wish is that they can be resumed (after the snap elections) once a majority is confirmed, enlarged or formed with other partners".
As for the constitutional bill on New Caledonia, Macron said it was "voted in the same terms by both Houses of Parliament".
"I have decided to suspend it," he said, adding that: "There shouldn't be any place for ambiguity during this period. It has to be suspended in order to give maximum strength to the dialogue on the ground and to return to order."
He said at the time that he would agree to wait for some time to allow inclusive talks to take place between local leaders, concerning the long-term political future of New Caledonia - but the end of June deadline still remained.
On Sunday, in a surprise announcement, Macron dissolved France's National Assembly (Lower House) and called for a snap general election on 30 June and 7 July.
Analysis - what this means now
Now that the National Assembly has been dissolved and a snap general election convened, the new situation technically means that the adopted text (still subject to the French Congress's final approval) is de facto impossible to apply in its current form: the Constitutional law, as endorsed in its present form by both Houses, is formulated in such a way that it "shall come into force on 1 July 2024" (article 2).
But now, the new Lower House will not be formed before mid-July and the French Congress (which includes the National Assembly) will not be able to sit before that.
If, like he said on Wednesday, Macron still wished to see all "pending projects" resume after the snap election, this would probably depend on the result of the general election and what kind of majority will emerge.
It would then be highly likely that, even if there is a will to revive the Constitutional Bill on New Caledonia, it would have to be modified (to change the date of 1 July 2024 in Article 2) and then would have to go back to square one of the legislative process, that is one vote by both the Upper Houses, another by the Lower House, followed by a final vote at a Congress joint bicameral sitting.
The amendment was designed to modify New Caledonia's voting system at local elections, especially the rules of eligibility to vote at those polls (for New Caledonia's three provinces and its local Congress).
It was approved by the National Assembly on 14 May and a few weeks earlier, on 2 April, by the Senate (Upper House).
However, the proposed constitutional change - which would open the list of eligible voters to some 25,000 citizens, mostly non-indigenous Kanaks - remains in limbo, as it needs to go through a final stage.
This final step (which, for the time being, cannot take place) is a vote in the French Congress, during a special sitting of both the Senate and National Assembly with a required 60 per cent majority.
Moderate PALIKA pro-independence leaders holding a press conference last month in Nouméa. Photo: LNC
Local parties react
On Wednesday, hours before Macron's latest comments, one of the more moderate component parties of New Caledonia's pro-independence FLNKS platform, the PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party), said in a release it regarded the controversial constitutional amendment on the local electoral roll was now "obsolete".
The PALIKA therefore called on all roadblocks still in place and erected by hard-line pro-independence groups (including the Union Calédonienne and its "CCAT" [Field Actions Coordinating Committee]) to be lifted, so that discussions can start to find a comprehensive agreement on New Caledonia's political future.
The moderate pro-independence party said the call follows Macron's dissolution of the National Assembly.
FLNKS is holding its national congress on 15 June.
Since last month, there have been numerous calls from pro-independence and pro-France parties, as well as religious and civil society leaders, to scrap the text altogether, as a precondition to the return of some kind of civil peace and normalcy in the French Pacific archipelago.
Similar calls have been issued by former French prime ministers who had been directly in charge of New Caledonia's affairs while in office.
'The end of life of this constitutional law' - Mapou
Even before Macron's dissolution announcement, New Caledonia's President Louis Mapou, in a speech at the weekend, mentioned the controversial text.
Mapou said the current unrest in New Caledonia, mostly by pro-independence parties, had de facto "signalled the end of life of this constitutional law".
But he also called on Macron to clarify explicitly that he intended to withdraw the controversial text, perceived as the main cause for unrest in New Caledonia.
He said that the text, which he said was "unilaterally decided" by France, has "reopened a wound that had taken so long to heal".
The constitutional law, he said, was "against the trend of New Caledonia's recent history", and was "useless because it has to be part of a global project".
"In my humble opinion, this constitutional law, therefore, cannot continue to exist".
"By saying (last month in Nouméa) that it will not be forced through, the French President too, between the lines, has signified its death and its slow abandon...
"It is difficult to imagine that the President would still want to table this constitutional bill (before the French Congress)," Mapou said.
A "dialogue mission" consisting of three high-level public servants stayed in New Caledonia from 23 May to last week.
It was tasked to restart talks between all local parties and economic, religious and civil society stakeholders.
The overall objective was to find a consensus on New Caledonia's political future.
Last week, the three returned to Paris to report to the President on the situation.
When they left last week, they said they would return to New Caledonia.
Violent unrest that started last month has caused burning, looting and rioting, the death of nine persons (including two French gendarmes), and the destruction of up to five hundred businesses, as well an estimated two hundred houses burnt down for an estimated cost of up to €1 billion (Euros).