Three short months and then it’s gone. Appointed Secretary of State for Citizenship on July 4, Sonia Backès presented her resignation from the government to President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, three days after her defeat in the senatorial elections, we learned from a government source. The Secretary of State ran for senatorial elections in New Caledonia under the Renaissance label. The government source did not specify whether his resignation had been accepted.
This surprise defeat – she was given the favorite – occurred in a complicated context of discussions on the institutional future of the archipelago between the executive and the parties concerned. She was soundly beaten by the independentist Robert Xowie.
Cold shower
In mid-September, back in New Caledonia after a week of discussions in Paris, the main independence party, the Caledonian Union, announced the suspension of its meetings with the State, criticizing the government’s project. A cold shower for the executive who had nevertheless displayed his satisfaction at the end of this round of discussions.
The fact of putting separatists and “loyalists” around the same table in Paris, and this for the first time since 2019, was perceived by Emmanuel Macron and his government as a sign of hope for a political agreement with a view to a constitutional revision in 2024. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin is due to go to New Caledonia at the end of October.