By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent, French Pacific desk
New Caledonia’s territorial government has been toppled on Christmas Eve, due to a mass resignation within its ranks.
Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Jérémie Katidjo-Monnier said he was resigning from the cabinet, with immediate effect.
Katidjo-Monnier was the sole representative from Calédonie Ensemble (a moderately pro-France party), one of the parties represented at the Congress.
He also said in a letter that all other people from his party’s list who could have replaced him, had also resigned as a block.
The letter was sent to government President Louis Mapou and copied to the French Pacific territory’s Congress President Veylma Falaeo.
The government of New Caledonia is made up of the parties represented at the Congress, under a proportional principle of “collegiality” — implying that all of its members and the parties they represent are supposed to work together.
In his letter, Katidjo-Monnier elaborated on growing tensions between Mapou’s government and the Congress MPs.
The tensions came to a head over the past few months, following the deadly pro-independence riots that started on May 13.
One particular point of contention was Mapou’s efforts to secure a loan of up to €1 billion (NZ$1.9 billion) from France, under a “PS2R” (reconstruction, refoundation and salvage) plan to rebuild New Caledonia after the riots damage estimated at some €2.2 billion (NZ$4 billion) and the subsequent thousands of job losses.
Congress vs government: two opposing recovery plans
At the same time, the Congress has been advocating for a different approach: a five-year reconstruction plan to secure funds from France.
A bipartisan delegation was last month sent to Paris to advocate for the plan — not in the form of reimbursable loans, but non-refundable grants.
The bipartisan delegation’s “grant” approach was said to be supported not only by Congress, but also by provincial assemblies and New Caledonia’s elected MPs in both houses of the French Parliament
The delegation was concerned that the loan would bring New Caledonia’s debt to unprecedented and unsustainable levels; and that at the same time, funds for the “PS2R” would be tied to a number of pre-conditioned reforms deemed necessary by France.
Katidjo-Monnier said neither the “obligation” for Congress and the government to act in “solidarity”, nor the “spirit of the Nouméa Accord”, had been respected.
Approached by local media on Tuesday, Mapou declined to comment.
‘Lack of solidarity’
The block resignation from Calédonie Ensemble entails that the whole government of New Caledonia is deemed to have resigned and should now act in a caretaker mode until a new government is installed.
The election of a new government must take place within 15 days.
One of the initial stages of the process is for the Congress to convene a special sitting to choose how many members should make up this new government (between five and 11) and then to proceed with their election.
The cabinet then elects a president.
Several governments have fallen under similar mass resignation circumstances and this “mass block resignation” ploy.
It has now been used 11 times since 1999, each time causing the downfall of the government.
Louis Mapou’s government was the 17th since New Caledonia’s autonomous government system was introduced in 1999.
He came to office in July 2021, months after the list of government members was chosen on 17 February 2021.
This was the first time a local territorial government’s leader belonged to the pro-independence camp.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
