Emmanuel Macron goes to the front line

The President of the Republic aims to renew the thread of dialogue in New Caledonia after more than a week of riots caused by the adoption of a contested electoral reform.

Emmanuel Macron is currently traveling to New Caledonia on Wednesday May 22. A whirlwind trip, 24 hours on site, as Jack Bauer would say. The mission is barely less complicated. Despite the massive deployment of law enforcement, the situation remains very tense after a week of riots which left six dead, including two gendarmes. The political blockage is total. In this battered territory, still governed by the state of emergency, this politically risky trip raises strong expectations. The proof is that former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, who managed the Caledonian file, put pressure on the Head of State on Tuesday evening. He has “hoped that President Macron’s announcements were up to par” of a “terribly sad, dangerous situation” And “more complicated than three months ago.

Emmanuel Macron takes this risk, first of all to appear as a President, at the same time, compassionate towards the Caledonians, at the bedside of a traumatized population, and firm, that is to say guarantor of the republican order. He intends to set up a mission to re-establish dialogue and find a global political solution, beyond just the thawing of the electorate provided for by the constitutional reform.

Basically, even if it means retreating, Emmanuel Macron convinced himself that it was in his interest to cover this retreat by counterattacking, that is to say by going there, on the front line. No one imagines that the President will announce upon arriving in Nouméa that he will convene the Congress at the end of June to have the constitutional revision adopted. There will at least be postponement, perhaps suspension, or even burial of the text. But beyond that, the head of state must get a longer-term discussion process back on track.

This trip will have been useful, obviously, if calm returns for a long time, and if the state of emergency is indeed lifted on Monday. And if Emmanuel Macron disappears from the photo as quickly as he imposed himself on it. That is to say, if the head of state has the wisdom to retreat behind the scenes to allow a neutral and consensual mediation mission to work. It is this model, that of a non-partisan power, an arbitrator, knowing how to delegate to others the task of finding a political solution, which gave birth to lasting peace almost 40 years ago. It is undoubtedly this model that Emmanuel Macron must resurrect if he wants to heal the wounds opened by his reform. In times of crisis, lessons from the “old world” sometimes prove very useful.