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Federalism according to Pierre Bretegnier’s vision
Hello everyone,
The APROFED association is getting back to you to supplement its email from the beginning of this week regarding Pierre Bretegnier’s vision of “dual federalism.”
In this regard, we invite you to consult two of these works entitled:
– La Nouvelle-Calédonie après 3 référendums, datant de cette année (2024) et faisant 155 pages,
– et Réalités calédoniennes, la Nouvelle-Calédonie disséquée en 100 coups de scalpel de 2021, 127p
You will be able to discover his vision through the few extracts below concerning federalism in New Caledonia, namely that:
– there is an original solution which is nevertheless likely to satisfy both camps: New Caledonia as a state federated with France,
– The main objection to the draft manifesto advocating federalism as a conciliatory solution is that this solution is impossible since France is a “one and indivisible Republic.” But this ignores the fact that these principles have never been fully applied in the Overseas Territories… and even less so in New Caledonia,
– the Noumea Accord also invites us to consider that New Caledonia, which is the subject of a specific and differentiated title in the French Constitution, can already be analyzed as a federated State of our so-called unitary Republic. All that remains is to formalize this analysis in the Constitution, the essential thing being not to commit New Caledonia to the path of full sovereignty,
– the federal solution makes it possible to combat ethnic struggles for power,
– that it constitutes a solution for exiting the Noumea Accord ,
– on relations with France (external federalism): New Caledonia is already legally and de facto recognized as a federated state of France since it has been living under a regime of shared sovereignty since the Noumea Accord , its laws of the country and its transfers of powers. Officializing this designation of federated state in the Constitution – which is legally possible even if France remains a unitary state – would give the independence supporters the satisfaction of having obtained a state and the loyalists the satisfaction that this state remains anchored in France.
– Federalism is the sharing and balance of powers, essential for a lasting solution.
– the Noumea Accord of 1998 which added the sharing of sovereignty with the central State, which is the basis for the creation of all federated States
– federalism first appeared in the speech given in 1985 in the Senate by Dick Ukeïwé (a Kanak),
– non-independence supporters might recognize that New Caledonia already happens to be a sort of federated state
– that with external federalism: New Caledonia would become a state, to the satisfaction of the independence supporters, but not fully sovereign because it would be constitutionally federated with France, to the satisfaction of the supporters of French Caledonia. And thus New Caledonia, a federated state of the French Republic, would continue to be protected and supported by the central state.
– every inhabitant, Caledonian of the umpteenth generation, Kanak or other, pro-independence or not, to feel the pride of being a national of the first federated state of France.
– The State will therefore find them something that resembles independence, that has the taste and color of independence but which is not independence. It could therefore go in the direction of a federated State that would provide stable institutions.
– The motto of federalism, e pluribus unum – “united in diversity” – could be that of the New Caledonia of tomorrow
– The internal federalism of the Matignon Accords was therefore succeeded by the external federalism of the Noumea Accord, “shared sovereignty” with a central State and the self-organization of a territory (in this case through transfers of powers decided by Congress) being the criteria for defining federal regimes.
– A consensual exit solution that would not betray either the 1st or the 2nd agreement would be to openly include in a new Title XIII of the Constitution that “New Caledonia is a federated State of the RF”,
– a status which would make New Caledonia a federated state of France would be acceptable to the loyalists since, by definition, it would not be independent, but also to the independence supporters – since New Caledonia would be a state
– France – itself federated into the large European group
– the United States, where each federated state has virtually all state powers – with the notable exception of powers relating to foreign affairs, the military, currency, and nationality
– Philippe Blaise, who refuses to recognize that a federated state is not, by definition, an independent state and pretends not to know that we have already been living for 25 years, with the Noumea Agreement, under a regime of dual sovereignty characteristic of federated states
– Sonia Backès to NC 1ère: to confirm in veiled terms her project of external federalism – the terms “integrated country” replacing those of federated state,
– Nicolas Metzdorf, initially so committed to the federalism proposal that he imagined leading a movement in this direction, completely changed his tune when Frogier and then Backès beat him to it with their proposals for “territorial differentiation” and “hyper-provincialization.” Burning what he adored and adoring what he had burned, he now joins Gomès in stupidly calling internal federalism “partition.”
– Federalism is not, in fact, a single institutional model: there are as many forms of federalism, possibilities for different relationships between States, as there are federal countries.
And to conclude:
– what everyone wants, that is to say, to manage our own affairs
– Caledonians wanted to be even more autonomous in the management of “their” affairs – whether in the form of an associated State, a federated State or a sharing of sovereign powers – to also see an identity recognized which sets them apart from Metropolitan France, and to benefit from employment protection against them as well as a right to vote reserved for residents for more than ELEVEN years in the territory
We wish you a good read and remind you that federalism is the only solution to reconcile unity in diversity.
The APROFED association