The conflictive insertion of Corsica into France, to which it has belonged since 1769, could enter a calmer phase thanks to the agreement reached last morning on autonomy for the island, a status that would be recognized in the French Constitution itself and through an organic law.
The political commitment came during a dinner in Paris, at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior, as a corollary of months of dialogue. The meeting, which lasted almost five hours, was attended by Minister Gérald Darmanin - charged by President Emmanuel Macron with managing the Corsican problem - and eight political leaders of the island of all stripes, including the head of the Corsican Executive, the autonomist Gilles Simeoni.
It was Darmanin himself who announced the pact, which is broad but not unanimous. It must be endorsed by the Corsican Assembly and then by the population of the island.
According to the minister, the "red lines" set by the Elysée have been respected. The existence of a Corsican people as such is not recognized, although "its own interests linked to its Mediterranean insularity, to its historical, linguistic and cultural community that has developed a unique relationship with its land" are recognized. The so-called "resident status", an old claim of the nationalists, which would require a minimum of residence in Corsica before being able to acquire real estate properties, is also not supported. The Government considers that this would be unconstitutional, violating the equal rights of all French people.
The future statute of autonomy will give the Corsican Assembly legislative powers - to make laws and regulations - in certain areas, for example urban planning, as long as they do not violate the general principles of the Republic. Corsica will also have the capacity to adapt French laws to the island's peculiarities. There will be a control and arbitration mechanism in charge of the Council of State and the Constitutional Council.
The satisfactory conclusion of the negotiation, which is known as "the Beauvau process" (the Parisian headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior, in front of the Elysée), was greeted with moderate optimism by Simeoni. According to the regional leader, he used a football simile and said that he is "in the semifinals" and "now we have to win the semifinal and the final."
The Corsican dispute was reactivated following the death, two years ago, of Yvan Colonna, who was serving a life sentence for the murder of the prefect Claude Érignac in 1998. Colonna died after being attacked in prison by an Islamist prisoner. The subsequent demonstrations and riots gave rise to a new generation of radical nationalist Corsicans. They blamed the State for not having adequately protected Colonna. A former most active terrorist group on the island, the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC), once again committed attacks against the properties of French people on the mainland.
Corsican autonomy will not give co-official status to the Corsican language, another of the historical demands of island nationalism. Macron, like his predecessors, accepts bilingualism but not co-officiality because he considers that "French is the language of the Republic", as the Constitution says, and a factor of national cohesion that must be preserved at all costs.
