Federalism: a solution advocated in New Caledonia as in France since 1977

The notion of federalism has already been proposed several times as a consensual solution to the institutional problem of New Caledonia by both local political actors and metropolitan actors.

In 1977, Jacques Lafleur, a Caledonian autonomist leader , decided to create the RPC (Rally for Caledonia) in response to the creation of the FLNKS independence movement the same year.

During his inaugural speech as head of his party, the leader of the future RPCR stated: “ We constitute […] a true small nation within the French nation ¹ ” already laying the foundations for a more advanced vision of autonomy, which is federalism.

In January 1985, faced with the “independence-association” project proposed by the High Commissioner at the time, Edgar Pisani, the RPCR responded through one of its members, Dick Ukeiwé, a Kanak from Lifou, then a senator and president of the government as well as of the territorial assembly, with a federal-type status, during a speech in the Senate. (cf.i1984_1985_0224.pdf (senat.fr))

In April 1985, the French president, François Mitterrand, faced with scepticism and possible rejection of the Pisani project by the Caledonian population, himself indicated during an extraordinary council of ministers that if the plan (Pisani) was not well received , it should not be put to the vote . […] Then we will push for federation without partition  (cf. TOURNEBIEN Luc, 2023, Kanaky Nouvelle-Calédonie, 40 ans d’émancipation … pour mieux recoloniser , 271p – cf.p44).

During the same year, another Kanak, Gabriel Païta, originally from the commune of the same name, founded the PFK or Kanak Federal Party in May 1985, which was joined by the mayor of the commune of Bourail, Jean-Pierre Aïfa, from the centrist FNSC (Federation for a New Caledonian Society), to form the OPAO party, in preparation for the 1985 Caledonian regional elections. With a result of 2,317 votes out of 89,906 registered, or 3.24% of the vote, the OPAO federal party did not obtain any seats. The reason may have been that the leaders of this project wanted to establish a federal republic, certainly associated with France but independent. After the vote, Jean-Pierre Aïfa declared that same evening on the radio station RFO: “There comes a time when the moderate parties are crushed and are no longer listened to. You have radicalization on the left and the right and the centers are no longer listened to” (cf. Jean-Pierre Aïfa — ​​Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) ).

In 1987, the FLNKS submitted a Constitution to the UN in order to include Kanaky (New Caledonia) on the list of countries to be decolonized. The preliminary draft of this Constitution, inspired by Maurice Lenormand, for whom federalism was a strong theme, initially aimed at the creation of a federal state . The final draft presented, advised by a professor of metropolitan public law at the University of Montpellier 1, was rather oriented towards the construction of a unitary state where administrative decentralization would be practiced (see RAPPORT-FINALANNEXES.pdf (gip-recherche-justice.fr)).

In 1988 , the Ouvéa (Gossanah) shock led to the Matignon-Oudinot peace accords , putting an end to the so-called “Events” period. These accords, under the aegis of Michel Rocard, laid the foundations for a new organization of New Caledonia internally and in its relationship with France, by establishing an administration and development of the federal territory as stipulated in the texts (see  Microsoft Word – Accords de Matignon.doc (mncparis.fr)). These were reinforced and completed 10 years later with the Noumea accords, in 1998, under the presidency of Jacques Chirac.

In 2003, the FLNKS promoted at the 15th summit of the Melanesian Spearhead Group in Gizo, capital of the western province of the Solomon Islands, the project of creating, following the Noumea Accord, the Federated States of Melanesia (FSM) , similar to the region of the Federated States of Micronesia, as revealed by Jacques Lalié, president of the province of the Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia in the book published in 2020: Les fédéralismes, under the direction of Jean-Yves and Florence Faberon. We learn that several projects have been launched on the basis of international reference treaties with a view, for example, to the creation of a Regional Police Academy in 2011, a Melanesian Central Bank in 2013 or even a Melanesian Parliament in 2015. President Lalié recalls that the initial idea of ​​federalism in New Caledonia should normally be done first and foremost with the French State .

In 2006, Pierre Bretegnier , Jacques Lafleur’s right-hand man within the Rassemblement-UMP (ex-RPCR) , relaunched the idea, arguing for a federal state where “we join forces before the end of the independence process, and where federal powers remain. This is what we would end up with before the last transfers of powers in our current status, but with this something extra which would be called “State”. It is a step towards the independence movement and at the same time a way of strengthening our roots in France ” ² .

In 2008, Philippe Gomes , a former member of the UMP Rally who founded Avenir Ensemble and then the Calédonie Ensemble party, took up the idea of ​​a “small nation within the large one” and proposed it to the independence supporters. The idea did not seem to offend Paul Néaoutyne, president of the Northern Province and founder of UNI (National Union for Independence) ³ . However, faced with criticism ⁴ of agreement with the independence supporters, Mr Gomes revised his speech, initially believing that a nation was not necessarily a State, to end up since 2013 by simply proposing a Caledonisation of sovereign powers , that is to say, allowing more Caledonians to be hired within the administrations run by the State ⁵ .

Also in 2008, Jean-Yves Faberon , professor at the Institute of Overseas Law, made a conciliatory proposal to the Senate concerning New Caledonia by proposing: federalism . For him, this would involve making the territory a fully-fledged state but federated with France, which would retain only sovereign powers . This would, he said, be a guarantee against internal intolerance and the guarantee of ^impartial external arbitration .

In 2013, Gael Yanno , former vice-president and spokesperson for the Rassemblement-UMP, also proposed, through his new party, the MPC, his solution for the institutional future of New Caledonia following the Noumea Accord, namely the creation of a federated-type community of the Republic ⁷ , based on the following principles ⁸ :

– No new transfers of skills, and in no case sovereign skills

– Maintenance of a Caledonian government

– Maintaining the provinces, which are the tool for power sharing

– Strengthening the skills of the provinces (e.g.: provisions of labor law, tax exemption, etc.)

– The Caledonian government recovers skills of territorial interest (tourism, environment, etc.)

– etc.

In 2017, Jean-Jacques Urvoas, former Minister of Justice, mentioned the solution of the federated State ⁹ which, according to him, would allow the demands of both parties to be met: one State for the independentists, and remaining within France for the non-independentists . This status would require a constitutional revision to create “a federal link between the Republic and a single one of its territories”, establishing, Mr. Urvoas notes, “an asymmetrical federalism of rare originality without equivalent in the rest of the world!”

In 2024, Didier Leroux , business leader, former member of the government of New Caledonia and president of several local non-independence political parties since 1995, declared during an interview with the Corail web tv channel that he was in favor of a federated state like Hawaii for the United States or Queensland in Australia (see Entretien avec Didier Leroux (youtube.com))