Following his Minister of the Interior, who visited Corsica on September 13 and 14, Emmanuel Macron is expected this Wednesday evening on the Isle of Beauty. On the menu for this two-day trip, a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Corsica and, above all, a highly anticipated speech to the Corsican executive assembly this Thursday morning, where announcements on the constitutional status of the island are hoped for. Why is this visit important? How does this project for a new constitutional status divide elected officials? 20 minutes takes stock of “the Corsican question” for you.
Macron in Corsica, for what?
This is President Emmanuel Macron’s fourth visit to Corsica since his election in 2017. His first trip took place in February 2018, on the occasion of the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the assassination of prefect Claude Erignac. The president returned the table in April 2019 to conclude his “great debate” launched after the “yellow vest” demonstrations. Finally, Emmanuel Macron came there for the last time in September 2020, as part of the Med7 summit, an informal group bringing together seven Mediterranean countries from the south of the European Union. For his first trip to Corsica since his re-election, Emmanuel Macron returns to one of his favorite areas: that of commemorations, while the island celebrates the 80th anniversary of its liberation in 1943.
But if this trip is particularly awaited, it is not only for the duty of memory. Of course, we must remember past history but we must always write about the future, namely the possible evolution of the status of Corsica towards more “autonomy”.
Back to the future
If the desire for independence carried out since the 1970s, particularly by the FLNC, seems to have fizzled out, the “Corsican question” suddenly returned to the table in the wake of the attack on Yvan Colonna at Arles prison, provoking scenes of riots in Corsica in March 2022. Returning to the island to put out the social fire and open discussions, Gérald Darmanin announced in an interview with Corsica-Morning be “ready to go as far as autonomy”.
But it was still necessary to define the perimeter. To do this, the Minister of the Interior has increased trips to Corsica (six since 2017, including four since this announcement). It was also Gérald Darmanin who chaired the cycles of discussions with Corsican elected officials organized in Paris in July and September 2022 and in February 2023. Discussions suspended for a time by the incarceration in December 2022 of the nationalist leader Charles Pieri, (former executive of the Corsica Libera party) indicted for “terrorist criminal association”.
The conclusion of these exchanges seems to have been reached on July 4, with the adoption by the Corsican executive assembly (46 votes out of 63 elected) of a text, called “Autonomia” framing the scope and desired process of this “ autonomy”. This text is now in the hands of the government.
So, “autonomy”, what are we talking about?
In the immediate future, this 16 page text lists various powers that it would be possible to transfer “as soon as the status of autonomy comes into force for the autonomous community of Corsica”, and in particular “the power to modify and regulate all taxes and duties” or even “the political and administrative organization of the Autonomous Community”. A second list sets out the skills that “can be added” gradually, where we find the thorny question of language (read next point). In short, only all sovereign powers (justice, defense and internal security, currency) are excluded from these powers.
In its article 3 of chapter I, this text sets out “the historical objective of recognition” of the Corsican people. This involves, according to the Corsican Assembly, a status of “co-officiality of the Corsican language”, which could therefore be used in legal texts. Also, the text proposes to “constitutionalize the link between the Corsicans and their land (…) opening, for example, the legal path to the implementation of a resident status”.
These last two points could be serious sticking points in the discussions underway for eighteen months now. From 2018, during a visit to Corsica, Emmanuel Macron said he was opposed to the idea of co-officiality, preferring bilingualism. He had also warned that he would “never agree to reserve this or that job for someone who speaks Corsican”, a statement which expressly targets resident status. Two “red lines” which do not seem to have evolved on the State side and which will undoubtedly be sources of difficult discussions. And if the State has its “red lines”, this text does not have the support of all Corsican elected officials and politicians.
Why does this divide Corsican elected officials?
Voted with 46 votes in favor, “Autonomia” was rejected by the 16 elected representatives of the Un Soffiu Novu group, classified on the right and which had presented a competing text. A rejection motivated, in particular, by their opposition to fiscal autonomy, and above all by “a principle of political reality”, explains the president of the group to Corsica Net info : a constitutional text must have the support of 3/5ths of parliamentarians (or go through a referendum). A majority which the President of the Republic does not have, particularly in the Senate, dominated by The Republicans (LR).
On the left, it was the only representative of Corsica Libéra, Josepha Giacometti-Piredda, who ultimately abstained because this text would respect too much the red lines established by the government, according to France 3 Corsica. Ultimately, the adoption of this text and the weak opposition encountered in the Corsican assembly can be explained by the liquidation in the last regional elections of the majority of nationalist elected officials from Corsica Libera, which numbered 13 during the previous mandate. Petr’Antone Tomasi, the leader of this political party, had fired his guns almost a month after the vote on this text during the Ghjurnate internaziunale (International Days) in Corte, judging that it was not a question of as it stands, only “improved decentralization, discounted autonomy”.