European Society for Oceanists 2015 Conference

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Session Detail (parallel)

The EU in the South Pacific: regional integration and the French OCTs

Coordinator(s)

Denise Fisher, Rudy Bessard, Nathalie Mrgudovic

Session presentation

Human societies are experiencing change with broad dimensions: a technological big bang, climate change, durable environmental practices, governance imperatives. These merit an examination of transformations in the Pacific with a global perspective through local and regional examples in the “sea of islands”. For instance, the consequences of global transformation on the process of regionalisation in the Pacific, governance issues in the region, the role of the Pacific in future global governance, managing environmental challenges, or manifestations of the digital revolution in Pacific societies, illustrate different ways of observing and thinking about contemporary transformations of a Pacific which is on the move.

As regionalism develops in the South Pacific within these global transformations, the French Overseas Territories there (New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis & Futuna) are pursuing France’s general policy of regional integration for all of its overseas territories. The French Pacific ‘Collectivities’ are also European and, along with Pitcairn, more specifically the only EU Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) in the region. They therefore combine three identities (Pacific, French and European) that allow them to translate the policy/process of 'regional integration' from three different perspectives.

As members of regional and sub-regional organisations, as well as in their bilateral relations with the Pacific Islands states, Australia and New Zealand.
• How is Europe supporting the regional integration of the three French OCTs in the Pacific? What does “regional integration” mean for the French OCTs of the EU in the South Pacific?
• How does the European identity of the French Pacific OCTs impact on or reflect their approaches to regional integration, individually and as OCTs? How do broader identity interests (ethnic, cultural, political) interplay with EU OCT status?
• What is the impact on wider regional aspirations in the South Pacific? Does the EU identity assist or impede the regional integration of the French OCTs?
• In relation to the EU, how does the status of the Pacific French OCTs compare with that of the independent Pacific islands states negotiating EPAs with Europe?
• How do globalized, fast-moving contemporary dynamics (role of the media, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), diasporas) affect the process of regional integration of the French OCTs?
• Proposals could consider regional integration of the French OCTs from any perspective, political, scientific, ecological, economic, technological, cultural, linguistic, etc.

Paper submissions are closed

Accepted papers

What is the regional integration of French overseas communities in the Pacific?

Christian Lechervy (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Regional integration of New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, and French Polynesia follows a trimorphic process. The State, local authorities and the European Union contribute, but separately. The strategic objectives and the means differ. The State values trans-Pacific instruments and an "Asia - Pacific" dynamic. The local authorities favor sub-regional groupings, intra-Pacific institutions, and even "identity" organizations (ex. MSG PLG). The European Union for its part centers on the development of regional capacity to develop national resources.
Can these differences be reduced?
Only with difficulty, if we want comprehensive trans-Pacific economic integration.
If local cooperation with the near neighborhood has emerged, neither the free movement of goods nor the free movement of persons are immediate priorities. The French OCT seem more interested in developing their cooperation with Australia, New Zealand, the United States (Hawaii) than with the other Pacific countries and territories.
Conversely, the Pacific Island countries do not seek much contact with the French territories, nor their technical expertise. Differences in standards of administrative culture, rules, and language are major obstacles. Budgetary and human resources, limited and unclear, to face the new challenges (e.g. waste management, water treatment ...) are additional constraints.
The support of the EU for regional integration will be more effective if the EU takes care to support the full integration of the French territories in regional organizations, include the OCTs in its "ACP" strategy and relies more on the scientific, technical and economic potential of the French territories.

EU-Pacific relations at the crossroads

Rémy-Louis Budoc (Conseil Economique, Social et Environnemental)

The European Union strongly encourages cooperation projects for the integration of OCTs in the Pacific area, particularly through the Pacific Community and the Pacific Islands Forum. Furthermore, by assigning different status, it allows them to benefit from preferential trade arrangements.
In this context, the question of the FED funding (European Development Fund) and commercial terms of access of the three French OCT of New Caledonia, Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna, in the European market has given the renewed association agreement, which links to the EU. Especially that trade between the three territories remains low, while a pooling of resources and harmonization with the surrounding countries would allow them to maintain effective and stable relations with these countries, facilitating economic integration in the region.
However, they have a strategic positioning; they are active borders of Europe in a peaceful area with high growth and make the European Union stronger in its objectives. They have to take their place in all the EU-Pacific strategy.
In this perspective, it should have an ambitious strategic vision of the relationship between those territories and the EU to enable them to improve their sustainability and to be truly the Union's spearheads in the South Pacific.

The implications of the 2013 EU Decision of Association of the Overseas Countries and Territories for the regional integration of France’s South Pacific territories

Denise Fisher (Australian National University)

The Decision of Association of the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) by the European Council in November 2013 adopted a new approach to the EU OCTs, whereby the French Pacific territories will be treated increasingly as reciprocal partners and normal beneficiaries of EU programs for sustainable development, and less as dependent developing appendages, within a framework of greater regional integration and cooperation. The Decision is the culmination of 12 years of evolution in the EU’s strategic approach to the OCTs. The change coincided with fundamental changes in the EU’s treatment of Africa-Caribbean-Pacific small island states, whereby preferential trade benefits accorded to the small independent South Pacific island states were to be replaced by negotiated bilateral Economic Partnership Agreements with governance conditions attached. Meanwhile regional efforts towards economic cooperation and trade continue under the revised Pacific Plan, PICTA and PACER arrangements, at the same time as new and powerful foreign partners and multinationals are becoming more engaged in island economies. In this context, the goal of developing mutually beneficial economic links between the French Pacific OCTs and their independent island neighbours will require more sustained effort from the French State and the OCTs themselves.

Europe, the French OCTs and regional trade integration in Oceania

Laïsa Ro'i (Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie)

This paper analyses the place of Europe and the French OCTs in the process of Oceania trade integration, from a positive, diachronic, comparative, regional perspective, based on political economy, applied econometrics and an original database covering trade flows between the Oceanian island countries and territories and their twenty-five main trading partners since 1980.

We first provide a descriptive analysis of the intensity and direction of trade flows from and to Oceania over the last thirty years and a comparative analysis of the contents of the many trade agreements already in force and those being simultaneously negotiated by the Oceanian countries. Interestingly, the disproportion between the rather minor importance of the EU in the Oceanian trade and the dramatic impacts that an EPA would trigger on their trade with Australia, New Zealand and the US, may well explain why the negotiations towards an EPA have failed up to now and why PNG and Fiji were the only Oceanian countries concluding interim PAs.

We then turn to the estimation of various panel specifications of the gravity equation, in order to highlight the factors impeding versus enhancing trade flows within Oceania. On the one hand, the comparison between the OCTs and their Oceanian neighbors suggests that through their colonial history and related institutional arrangements, they have inherited distinct trade patterns. On the other hand, the estimation results suggest that the exclusion of the OCTs from the trade agreements in force among Oceanian countries (MSGTA and PICTA) have not impeded the OCTs regional trade, and that the proposals for the inclusion of the OCTs in these agreements could be mutually beneficial.

Perceptions of Europe by the political class in French Polynesia

Sémir Al Wardi (Université de la Polynésie française)

The political community in French Polynesia is very remotely concerned with the European Union. Neither the voters nor the political community can understand the voting system which is overly complex and, as a result, the turnout rate for the European elections has always been the lowest of all. The member of the European Parliament for the French Pacific territories is not even from French Polynesia but from New Caledonia. Europe is all the more distant as a result of an already uneasy relationship between French Polynesia and metropolitan France. It has indeed been a source of tension and misunderstanding, hence a sense of belonging to the European Union that is rather utopian.
However, as a consequence of some funding measures, the European Union has become more and more visible and heard of in political speeches. Major construction projects have partially been funded by European Union Funds, which is why local mayors are increasingly considering the support from the European Union as a way to counterbalance their subordination to the local government of French Polynesia.
Ultimately, this is all about assessing the perception of the European Union by the political community of French Polynesia, and the evolution of this relationship.

European Union-French Polynesia Relations: Political Stakes and Resources of Polynesian Leaders

Rudy Bessard (University of Bordeaux / University of French Polynesia)

The Overseas Country/Territory (OCT) of French Polynesia is linked to the European Union (EU) by a special institutional partnership of association. In Tahiti, the political stakes of such a relationship are heightened by analysis of the relationships between political leaders and the EU. Indeed, utilizing the EU as a political resource by main leaders takes various forms in the Polynesian political space. The initial apparent discourse rejecting the EU has been followed by one presenting the EU as an opportunity, to affirm the territory of French Polynesia in the regional and international areas. Moreover, successive Polynesian presidents have expressed their autonomy in relation to France by their participation in institutional and economic negotiations with the EU. But at the same time, French Polynesia’s stake in the EU is a matter of local strategic positioning for political leaders.

The Different Ways to Regional Integration for New Caledonia

Jimmy Naouna (Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG))

Since the 1998 Noumea Accord and subsequent gradual transfer of powers from France, New Caledonia has entered a new era in pursuit of its “regional integration” into its neighbouring cultural and geographical environment, the Pacific Region.
The Noumea Accord provides New Caledonia with the capacity, both legal and institutional, to enhance its cooperation with other Pacific Islands countries including Australia and New Zealand, and to become member of regional, sub-regional and international organisations, with or beside France.
Undoubtedly, the European identity of the three French Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) does play a role in determining the extent of their cooperation - both individual and collective - with their neighbouring countries in terms of trade, economic, cultural and other forms of cooperation.
The French OCTs are considered by their Pacific neighbours as the “doors to Europe” especially in terms of trade and market access. The MSG Trade Agreement operating among the Melanesian countries provides great opportunities for economic integration in Melanesia but also in other parts of the Pacific.
This paper will address the experience of New Caledonia in pursuing its “regional integration” policy/process within its shared powers in international relations and will provide perspectives for New Caledonia’s greater political and economic integration and trade relations in the Pacific though the FLNKS membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

The EU and the three French Territories of the South Pacific: factors of rapprochement and limitations to the inter-territorial integration

Nathalie Mrgudovic (Aston University)

The three French territories – New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna – have long been kept separated from each other by France, for various reasons. And it seems that the territories themselves have, for a long time at least, accepted this situation without much objection.
However with the Nouméa Accord of May 1998, and the 1999 Organic Law for New Caledonia, and the Organic Law of 2004 for French Polynesia, France has granted them a certain degree of autonomy, especially with regard to their external relations. They are now entitled to negotiate and sign agreements with countries, territories or regional organisations in the Pacific, and become members, associate members or observers in these regional organisations. France has thus encouraged its Pacific territories to integrate better in the region. In parallel, the EU has also promoted the regional integration of the Overseas Countries and Territories associated with the EU (OCTs) such as the three French territories in the South Pacific. Through its partnership, the EU aims to reduce the OCTs’ economic and environmental vulnerability and strengthen their trading abilities. As OCTs, the three French territories are increasingly involved in European strategies that aim at reinforcing the cooperation between the EU, the Pacific member states of the ACP group and the OCTs in the Pacific. And over the last ten years, progress has definitely been made.
However, has this European identity as OCTs lead to any rapprochement between the three French territories themselves? Has it generated a will and/or means to better cooperate? These are the main issues this paper will examine.