It could be a turning point: French President Macron has promised the island of Corsica more independence. However, many Corsicans remain skeptical. The relationship with the mainland is considered to be severely strained.
The Corsicans have been waiting for this moment for a long time: “Let us have the courage to create autonomy à la Corse, within the Republic.” President Emmanuel Macron had already spoken for over 15 minutes in parliament in Ajaccio when the longed-for word finally came to his lips: autonomy.
“In order to properly anchor Corsica in France, to recognize its uniqueness and its specificity as a Mediterranean island, we must enshrine Corsica in our constitution,” said Macron.
Autonomy yes, Corsican as a second official language, no. The president also rejected the wish to give the Corsican population on the island priority over mainland French people. But in the end he receives long, benevolent applause from almost all MPs.
Supporters of the French central state are standing up, as are the majority of moderate nationalists who have long been fighting for self-determination. A historic day? A real turning point in the strained relationship between France and Corsica?
Corsica, with its capital Ajaccio, is located south of mainland France.
“We can become partners”
Pierre Alain Nebbia still can’t quite believe it. The beefy man with close-cropped gray hair gestures in the rear-view mirror of his taxi and explains: “If France really gives us a hand, trusts us and we trust them, if the state fights with us all of the island’s problems, the rising real estate prices for example , and not always just demonize Corsican nationalism, then we could become partners.”
Nebbia is not only a taxi driver and Corsican nationalist, but also the mayor of the small mountain town of Lopigna. Is Paris really serious about the concessions this time? “We only ever achieved something when we used force,” he says. “What should we conclude from this?”
concessions after riots
In fact, the government only moved because there were demonstrations, riots and burning cars on the island last March. Thousands of people took to the streets because Yvan Colonna, a former independence fighter serving a life sentence for murder, was killed in prison by another inmate. Conspiracy theories circulated that the state was behind Colonna’s death.
Many Corsicans were hit hard by the death of their hero, says Pierre, who stands behind the counter in the bar Le Valinco. He always believed in his innocence and still believes in it today. “For me, Colonna was innocent. I knew him when I was a child, he was an educator. Everything my compatriots did here after his death, I can understand it 100 percent,” says Pierre.
In the face of the riots, Paris gave in, made concessions, and opened an unprecedented negotiation process, the provisional end of which was Macron’s speech yesterday.
“These are just words for now”
But many Corsicans remain skeptical. Brigitte, the plump woman in her mid-forties, is also sitting with her friends in the Albert Premier Café in Bastia. The president rushed here after his appearance in Ajaccio. Brigitte followed his speech on the radio in the morning. “For now, these are just words. And there have been a lot of words. We have so many problems here because we are an island,” she says. The transport, the garbage, the health. Sick people would have to be flown to the mainland every day.
The problems are diverse and the road to self-determination is still rocky. Because in Paris, Macron has to convince both chambers of parliament of the autonomy for Corsica. He wants to present them with a text in the spring.
She has hope that it will work, says Brigitte. But she doesn’t look at the president, who is greeting the crowd directly across the street in the large square.