France has announced a historic deal with New Caledonia in which the South Pacific overseas territory will be declared a new state. The 13-page accord, reached yesterday after negotiations in Paris, proposes the creation of a State of New Caledonia, within the French Republic, inscribed in the French constitution, and the creation of a Caledonian nationality alongside French nationality.
The deal also calls for an economic and financial recovery pact that would include a renewal of the territory’s nickel processing capabilities. The agreement hailed by French President Emmanuel Macron as historic still needs final approval in New Caledonia. The accord may face a vote by New Caledonians in February. France colonised the Pacific archipelago in the 1850s, and it became an overseas territory after World War II, with French citizenship granted to all Kanaks in 1957. The last independence referendum in New Caledonia was held in 2021.
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