Polynesian president refuses to ask for more powers under new Statute of Autonomy

Fritch argues islands not even capable of fully exercising current competencies · Pro-independence movement demands self-determination referendum

07.10.201611.45h

The Polynesian Assembly. Author: veromortillet

A reform of the Statute of Autonomy under discussion in Polynesia will not include any new powers for this French territory in the Pacific Ocean, autonomist Polynesian president Edouard Fritch said. Speaking to the UN, the Polynesian leader further said that France is not a colonial country and that the inclusion of Polynesia into the List of Non Self-Governing Territories is absurd.

Fritch said Statute amendments will be aimed at clarifying powers and bureaucratic issues, to ensure "the overall allocation of autonomy" - that is the French annual grant to Polynesia-, and to write down the recognition of harm that French nuclear tests caused in the Oceanic country.

"Polynesia is nowadays an autonomous country [exercising] all powers except for security, justice, currency and foreign affairs," Fritch argued. "We have no means for our competencies. So why should we be asking for more?", the president wondered.

The amendment of the Statute of Autonomy could be debated in the French National Assembly before the end of the year.

Pro-independence camp demands referendum

But pro-independence camp believes that there is enough reason to believe that, essentially, Polynesia still a colony. In 2013, when the islands' pro-independence parties were in government, they managed to reinstate Polynesia in the UN List of Non Self-Governing Territories.

That same year, the Assembly of French Polynesia asked the French government to organize a self-determination referendum. The request was supported also by autonomist Assembly members, convinced that any popular vote would show that Polynesians reject secession.