“France must clarify its strategy on New Caledonia”

Should it be a turning point?

France must clarify its strategy with New Caledonia. If it begins to let go of the jewelry of the Empire, even though these jewels have chosen to remain French, I fear that it is a sign of a downgrading of the country internationally. For New Caledonia and for France, a clear and final status is needed. The State must project the island into economic development and give it the whole role it must have in the French strategy in Indo-Pacific.

But you sincerely believe that this summit can lead to a concrete and fast solution?

I have to believe it, otherwise I change jobs. So far, these questions have been managed at the level of the Minister of Overseas, even the Prime Minister. There, for the first time, the President of the Republic entered directly in the negotiation. I really hope that we will manage to find a solution, because if we do not find it even at this level, then it would be desperate. But I am convinced that having the top floor of the rocket, we must be able to move forward.

Do you see in the takeover of this file by the Head of State a disavowal for the Minister of Overseas Manuel Valls?

It is above all a disavowal for the independence-association project that he carried. We, non-independence, alerted the president to what Manuel Valls had proposed. This project was dangerous for France, because it would have lost its national integrity, and for New Caledonia insofar as we were going to find ourselves at the mercy of hostile powers like China. Politically, I see a disavowal of the 1980s software that some socialist political leaders may have, who are still in the questions “decolonial” and “first people”.

In the event that Emmanuel Macron goes in your sense, it could awaken the violence that we were able to know last year …

At that time, we don’t do anything anymore. If we are a prisoner of violence, we are no longer a rule of law, we are no longer a democracy. I cannot imagine that France is retreating before separatist violence because it would apply a popular choice.

Today, a year later, what is the situation there?

The institutional has a heavy impact on economic activity. In the absence of perspectives, visibility, and taking into account political instability, companies no longer invest, consumers no longer consume. We have a 30 % drop in our GDP. This no longer allows us to finance our health model, our social security, our public services, while we are independent on these subjects. And then the tensions persist. There were still corporate fires a few days ago. There are assaults of gendarmes, citizens, quite regularly. I take this opportunity to salute Minister Bruno Retailleau, who maintains a sufficient number of police on the island. In fact, the question of violence is not settled because the political question is not settled.

On this issue of reconstruction, do you expect the President’s announcements?

I do not expect a state a perpetual check every year. We are not beggars. Above all, we respect the difficulties encountered by the French taxpayer in balancing the budget of the nation. The best of the economic measures to be taken is to have a final political status within the French Republic. If it is to keep us in instability and make checks every year to clog the breaches, it is not a perspective, it is a stack.

“The question of violence is not settled because the political question is not resolved”

You who sit in the National Assembly, do you feel that part of the left definitively abandoned the inhabitants of New Caledonia?

The French left has never held to us. The left is obsessed with one thing: decolonization. She only has that in her mouth. She has no ambitions, she has no vision for our territories. It is in repentance and self -firing. She cannot have dropped us because she never had us.

And after the left, do you fear that it is the state that lets you go?

This fear is enormous. The population does not understand what is going on. She says to herself: “We voted three times to choose France and we have the impression that France is shaking on its supports. »» It is not reassuring when you have the image of a strong and ambitious France, to end up with a France which is feverish.

For you, no question that Emmanuel Macron submits the idea of ​​a new referendum?

We no longer want a referendum in the coming decades. From the moment we call into question a sovereign choice of a people, we open the door to all excesses. It is really not the best idea to get.

You arrived in mainland France on Sunday. Have you ever taken your return ticket to return to Nouméa? Knowing that the summit can last several days …

No, I didn’t take a return ticket. The president said that we would take the necessary time. I take the necessary time.