Nights of riots have punctuated New Caledonia for almost a week, where six people, including two gendarmes, have lost their lives. Dams continue to block the territory and the economic heart of Nouméa, placed under a state of emergency. “We must restore order and trust,” urged Manuel Valls, guest of the “Grand Jury RTL-M6-Le Figaro-Paris Première” this Sunday. The former prime minister called for a “comprehensive agreement” between loyalists and separatists, without which “we will move towards total chaos,” he assured.
This, while Emmanuel Macron called on the actors to get back around the table, otherwise the Congress will meet “before the end of June” to definitively adopt the contested reform of the unfreezing of the electorate in the archipelago. “If we play against each other, it won’t work. We cannot work on the New Caledonian issue by issuing ultimatums,” asserted Manuel Valls, who conversely asked for “a postponement” of the meeting of the two Chambers. “This is the crux of the disagreement and the deep hostility of the separatists,” he added.
The former advisor to Michel Rocard (1988-1991) also encouraged Gabriel Attal to “take back control” of the thorny subject, whereas, contrary to custom, it had until then been dealt with by the Minister of Interior and Overseas, Gérald Darmanin. The head of state has since redirected the file to the office of Gabriel Attal, putting the Prime Minister back at the forefront of the New Caledonian scene. “Matignon is the home of all Caledonians of good will,” insisted Manuel Valls.
Succeeding the ex-socialist on the stage, the number three of Reconquest in the European elections, Sarah Knafo, judged conversely that “strength calms violence and weakness excites it”. “The urgency is not to postpone the Versailles Congress. We cannot talk about legitimate demands when the young people who attack do not want a compromise but want to break, pillage and commit violence,” continued Eric Zemmour’s advisor.
Contrary to the former Prime Minister, Sarah Knafo estimated that a “political agreement” had already been “found thirty years ago”, during the Matignon agreements in 1988. “It has been thirty years since we given a perspective with three referendums (…), the Caledonians have chosen three times to remain French,” she insisted, explaining that “France must stick to its positions.”
The senior official did not fail to shoot an arrow in the direction of the left and the Insoumis, who evoke the defense of a “first people” in reference to the Kanaks. “Insoumise France is a bit like Mélenchon in Paris, and Zemmour in Nouméa. They speak of a first people by recognizing a right not to become a minority on their soil and therefore to freeze the electorate,” she quipped. Before asking: “Why don’t they understand us when we say that we don’t want to become a minority on our soil? »