New Caledonia: "In the name of the right to decolonization, we must resume the draft Bougival Agreement"

The Rock is the name given by non-Kanaks, the "Caldoches" and the metropolitan French, to New Caledonia. In an April 1959 article , published in Le Monde Diplomatique , Jean Duhamel, Minister Plenipotentiary of Monaco, explained the path that led the Monegasque principality, known as the Rock, to obtain international status in connection with France. It is surprising that representatives of the French state did not include this information in discussions with delegations discussing the future of New Caledonia.

This is all the more surprising when we know that, after the events that plunged New Caledonia into mourning in May 2024 , the attorney general of Noumea was appointed to… Monaco – a position highly coveted by certain French magistrates, if we remember this part of the criminal trial. of Nicolas Sarkozy [finally convicted in 2024 in the wiretapping affair] . There are therefore many possibilities, and not the least, of "association" between two States, preserving, and better, developing the wealth and interests of each of them, whether on the internal or international level.

The Cook Islands, in the Pacific, have been an example of this since 1965: they are an autonomous state in free association with New Zealand, which provides foreign policy and defense assistance. In his article, Jean Duhamel continues: " France guarantees the integrity of the Monegasque territory as if it were part of France. It undertakes to defend it, which excludes any possibility of incorporation. For its part, the Prince's government undertakes to exercise its sovereign rights in full compliance with the political, military, naval, and economic interests of France."

Various conventions were subsequently signed to perfect this association, including that of 1951 which, in its preamble, specifies that "the provisions envisaged, due to the geographical situation of the Principality of Monaco, take into account its own political and economic structure, the traditional friendship and the special ties which unite it to France while respecting its sovereignty and independence" .

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