"No, there will be no referendum in July-September 2023," Carenco was quoted by Mediapart newspaper.
Carenco contradicted the statements of his predecessor, Sebastien Lecornu, who promised to elaborate a new statute for New Caledonia and then put it to a vote there.
New Caledonia's pro-independence parties do not recognize the results of the independence referendum, which was held on December 12, 2021 and had a low turnout due to the boycott of independence supporters.
According to the Noumea agreement of 1998 on the archipelago's decolonization, three independence referendums have to take place.
At the third and final referendum on the independence of New Caledonia, some 96.5% voted against its independence from France, while 3.5% spoke in favor of secession. The turnout was only 43.9%, which was caused by the boycott, announced by local nationalists due to the outbreak of coronavirus. French authorities refused to postpone the vote.
This photo dated Monday, May 9, 2018 shows a general view of the bay of Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific, with the yachting port in the background
© AP Photo / Theo Rouby
The first referendum on independence was held in November 2018, and 56.7% voted for remaining a French territory. The second vote took place in October 2020, when 53.3% of citizens said they would not like to separate from France.
New Caledonia, the archipelago in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, became a part of France in 1853. Now, the area has a special administrative status and population of 270,000.