New Caledonia: How the Bougival Agreement Fell Apart Barely After It Was Signed
On August 13, the New Caledonian independence coalition formalized its rejection of the Bougival Agreement, signed a month earlier and presented as historic for the future of the archipelago. Overseas Minister Manuel Valls is expected in Noumea on August 18. “He will have his work cut out for him,” comments this Australian specialist in “The Interpreter,” a publication affiliated with the Lowy Institute.
Intended to end several months of unrest in New Caledonia, the Bougival Agreement is falling apart barely after its signing. Last month, in Paris, New Caledonian independence and loyalist leaders signed this text with the head of state, which provides for the creation of a new kind of state entity, potentially endowed with sovereign powers, while remaining within the bosom of the mainland.
It was known that the pro-independence leaders who signed it would have difficulty gaining popular support. In fact, the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) has just formally rejected the agreement it had just signed in Paris. Various hypotheses have been put forward as to the reasons for this rejection: France concealed its intentions during the negotiations, the agreement in question was only a draft, the text does not take into account the proposals of the pro-independence leaders or the results of the latest census, which plays a key role in the composition of electoral lists.
It was known that the agreement would inevitably encounter various difficulties. That it would require a constitutional amendment with the imprimatur of both houses of Parliament, a referendum in New Caledonia, an expansion of the electorate, and the ela
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