Opening
pp. 26-27 · Read in the full issue
the door
PRESIDENT Alexandre Leontieff,
facing some potentially explosive
issues in French Polynesia, has opened the door of dialogue and promised to convene a special session of the Territorial Assembly on Au gust 17. While nuclear testing in the French Pacific territory will be a key issue in the discussions, other major subjects have been included in the
agenda:
• A controversial 34-billion French Pacific franc (about US $303.57 mil lion) five-year French State- Territorial Government economic and social development plan for French Polynesia. A protocol agree ment was signed in Paris on January 21 by French Prime Minister Michel Rocard, French Overseas Depart ments and Territories Minister Louis
Le Pensec and President Leontieff.
However, the Territorial Assembly has yet to debate the plan, which is supposed to start this year and run
through 1993.
• Bringing up to date the Terri tory’s provisional 1989 budget of 70.355 billion francs (about US$62B million) in view of expenditures already made or committed and re
venues already collected. Although
normally a routine procedure, this, too, could prove controversial in view of the current debate among majority coalition and opposition political lead ers over whether President Leontieffs economic recovery plan announced last August has really taken effect.
On the nuclear testing issue, two items are reportedly scheduled for debate during the Territorial Assem bly’s special session. They are: • A three-item motion submitted
on May 26 by independence political
party leader Oscar Temaru calling for a debate of Tahiti’s relationship
with Europe starting in 1993; the role of the French Pacific Testing Center, known locally as the C.E.P. (Centre
d’Experimentation du Pacifique); and
a public polling of voters on whether they are for or against Tahiti’s inde pendence from France. • A three-item motion submitted and then withdrawn by the independ ence political party la Mana Te Nunaa. That motion was initially opposed by fellow majority coalition leaders of the Leontieff Government and supported by opposition leaders.
The motion called for the creation of a special Territorial Government Commission to study the economic and social impact of the C.E.P.’s pre sence; the creation of a special com mission to evaluate the health and ecological consequences of nuclear testing in French Polynesia; and the organisation of a public polling of vo ters on whether they are for or against continued nuclear testing in this French overseas territory of nearly 200,000 people. □