French Polynesia to get more self-government

French Polynesia will have greater

self-government, including the right

to negotiate agreements in the Pacif ic, following a vote in the French Senate.

The Senate approved a bill passed in June by the Lower House, the National Assembly, that widens Papeete’s powers while falling short of independence from France.

Under the bill, the archipelago of 110 islands dotted across a territory as big as Europe but with only 220,000 inhabitants, will be considered by the French adminis tration as “an overseas country” - a new term in French political lexicon - rather than an “overseas territory”.

That means the establishment of “Polynesian citizenship” as well as the right of the Papeete government “to engage

negotiations with Pacific states on interna tional accords”.

The new status, which can only be enacted after a reform of the French Consti tution, provides for Paris to continue to manage areas such as foreign affairs, defence, currency, law and order, electoral laws and justice. Unlike legislation last year concerning its sister South Pacific territory, New Caledonia, the bill does not provide for an independence referendum.

Instead it states that “French Polyne sia govern itself freely and democratically

within the (French) Republic.”

It is now up to French President Jacques Chirac to convene a special meet ing of both houses of the French parliament, expected in January, to amend the constitu tion in line with the bill. AFP ■