PAPE’ETE, 22 FEBRUARY 2019 (RNZ PACIFIC) – The French Senate has fully approved a revision of French Polynesia’s autonomy statute.
The reform is contained in two laws which have finally been adopted unanimously after being voted on last week.
The new statute gives official recognition to French Polynesia’s contribution to France developing its nuclear deterrent.
It states that consequences of the tests have to be taken into account in every sphere.
The revision of the statute now goes to a vote in the National Assembly.
French Polynesia’s president Edouard Fritch said the main point in revising the statute was to calm domestic and international opinion about the legacy of the French nuclear weapons tests.
He said the nuclear issue was also being talked about a lot at the United Nations which six years ago returned French Polynesia onto the decolonisation list.
France carried out 193 nuclear weapon tests in the South Pacific between 1966 and 1996.
Source: FIJITimes.com