New Caledonia: No agreement reached at the end of negotiations on the island's status

No agreement could be reached after three days of negotiations between pro-independence and non-pro-independence supporters on the institutional future of New Caledonia, Overseas Minister Manuel Valls said on Thursday, May 8.

"We must frankly note that no agreement has been reached," he said during a press conference in Noumea, explaining that this deadlock prevents us from "resolving the question of the composition of the electoral body," which was the cause of serious riots almost a year ago, "and that of the exercise of the right to self-determination."

The government will therefore have to "examine the plan to call and organize provincial elections in accordance with the current legal framework," he said. These crucial elections on the island, because they determine the composition of the local government, should theoretically be held before the end of November 2025.

Discussions on the political future of the archipelago, conducted since the beginning of the year under the aegis of Manuel Valls , took a decisive turn with the holding of a "conclave" behind closed doors, bringing together pro-independence and non-pro-independence supporters from Monday to Wednesday in an attempt to get them to sign an agreement.

During these negotiations, two projects were examined in depth, explained the Minister of Overseas Territories on Thursday. "One based on sovereignty with France," defended by the State, and "the other based on federalism within the French Republic," supported in particular by the Loyalists , one of the branches of the non-independence movement.

But "no project has been able to achieve consensus," Manuel Valls regretted. The Loyalists' project, according to him, "in our eyes called into question the unity and indivisibility of New Caledonia," through "a project of de facto partition."

The project presented by the government, for its part, had aroused the indignation of non-independence supporters, who felt that it amounted to de facto confirming the independence of the territory.

Manuel Valls, however, welcomed the debate, which "continued in a respectful manner." Despite the failure of the negotiations, "points of convergence" were identified, according to the minister, who stated that a "monitoring committee" would allow this work to continue.

These discussions also allowed the two sides to return to the negotiating table, in a context marked by the scars of the 2024 riots, which left 14 dead and more than two billion euros in damage, and a persistent economic crisis.