Arthur de Laborde / Photo credit: ED JONES / AFP
While New Caledonia has been in the grip of riots for a week, the question of the island’s self-determination divides the political class. But one party seems to have changed its tune. The RN, until now hostile to independence, is proposing a fourth referendum in 40 years.
For a week, New Caledonia has been in the grip of riots. An outbreak of violence directly linked to the adoption of the constitutional reform project to unfreeze the electoral body of the archipelago. A question which divides the political class and which affects the process of self-determination of New Caledonia. One party has just made an about-face on this subject: the National Rally. Until then hostile to independence, he is now proposing a fourth referendum in 40 years. How can we explain this turnaround?
Standardization strategy
An inflection in line with the normalization strategy adopted for years by Marine Le Pen. The boss of the RN wants to appear in a posture of appeasement. She is convinced that it is a necessity to settle at the Élysée in 2027, while, according to polls, the fear of disorder remains the main obstacle to her party’s accession to power.
Reassure by playing the moderation card on certain subjects such as the Caledonian question. It is also a way of continuing to build the image of a credible opposition, even if it means abandoning a form of radicalism to its adversaries, whether they are on the right like Reconquest or on the left like the Insoumis. “Our developments today on New Caledonia or yesterday on the European Union can give the feeling that we have no backbone,” recognizes an RN executive. “But this perception is totally marginal among the French and we emerge strengthened,” he analyzes.