Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu described the constitutional bill on New Caledonia as an emergency, adopted by the Council of Ministers on October 14. The text aims to create a new Caledonian state and plans a consultation with the population before April 2026. The accelerated timeline addresses a countdown set by French constitutional authorities.
During his general policy statement to the National Assembly on October 14, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu reiterated that the constitutional bill 'establishing and organizing the State of New Caledonia' is an 'emergency.' Adopted by the Council of Ministers on the same day, this three-article text seeks to address the territory's institutional tensions.
The timeline was set upon the signing of the Bougival agreement on July 12, but two months were lost due to national government crises. Lecornu announced that the government will propose adopting the text before year's end, for a consultation with Caledonians in spring 2026. This urgency stems from a binding deadline: provincial elections must occur by June 28, 2026 at the latest, postponed three times since the May 2024 insurrection, as reminded by the Council of State and the Constitutional Council.
Article 1 of the bill provides for approval of the agreement by 'the interested populations' of New Caledonia before April 26, 2026. This consultation will use the same electoral body as the 2021 independence referendum. Article 2 inserts 'the State of New Caledonia' into the French Constitution, with organizational details in a future organic law, resulting from discussions between independentists and non-independentists. Finally, Article 3 states that the constitutional law will take effect only after this popular consultation.