Marine Le Pen wants to "participate" in consultations with Emmanuel Macron on New Caledonia

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen , visiting New Caledonia, said on Thursday that she wanted to "participate" in future consultations on the archipelago's institutional future, convened in mid-June by President Emmanuel Macron after the failure of recent negotiations.

The Élysée Palace announced Tuesday evening that the head of state would invite "stakeholders from New Caledonia" to Paris from mid-June, in an attempt to reach an agreement between pro-independence and non-pro-independence supporters following the failure in early May of negotiations led by Overseas Minister Manuel Valls.

"I think it would be a good thing if I could actually participate in these consultations," Marine Le Pen told reporters on the sidelines of a visit to the SLN nickel plant in Noumea, citing her 40% vote in the 2022 presidential election in New Caledonia and the fact that she was a candidate again in 2027.

"Therefore, tomorrow, if I am elected, if the French people trust me, I may be required to play an active role in the decisions that could be taken," argued Marine Le Pen, whose appeal is due to be heard in the first half of 2026. At the end of March, she was sentenced at first instance to five years of immediate ineligibility in the case of assistants to National Rally MEPs.

Asked about the possibility of being accompanied during these discussions by Jordan Bardella, the president of the far-right party who makes no secret of his presidential ambitions in the event of Marine Le Pen being "unable to attend" , the latter snapped: "I'm not sure that Jordan is very familiar with the problems of New Caledonia. We share our talents."

The president of the RN group in the National Assembly said she wanted "moderation" and to represent "a middle way" between "the radicalism of a section of the independence movement, but also the radicalism of a section of the loyalists" in New Caledonia.

"I am modest, I am not saying that I will solve the problem, I am saying that I think I can make my contribution," Marine Le Pen emphasized.

She then stated, before a meeting with business leaders, that she would "write to the President of the Republic upon (her) return to Paris" at the end of the week to be at the table for discussions.