Emmanuel Macron invited himself to the resumption of discussions on the institutional future of Corsica, organized at the Ministry of the Interior. Facing the Corsican elected officials, gathered at Place Beauvau, the Head of State indicated, this Friday, February 24, that he had no “no taboo” nor of “predetermined solution” on the subject, and that he was ready to include any changes in his project to reform the Constitution “after summer”.
Does Corsica have the means to be independent?
According to one of his advisers, Emmanuel Macron said he was open to all the solutions mentioned by elected officials, from autonomy to differentiation, however reiterating his two “red lines”namely the maintenance of “Corsica in the Republic” And “the refusal to create two categories of citizens”.
“The president was very clear on this, he said that he had no predetermined objective and the elected officials who were present spoke at the same time of autonomy, decentralization, adaptation, diversification, of differentiation, everything has been touched on a bit. »
“The president said that there was no objective prefixed in advance, that everything must be put on the table, there must be no taboos”added this source.
A reflection for the summer of 2023
Still according to the Elysée, the negotiators will have to “to formulate a proposal which could be part of the constitutional reform project that the President of the Republic wishes to carry out after next summer” to be discussed in “2023-2024”. “A review clause between the President, the Minister of the Interior and the elected officials” has been fixed “for before summer” in order to “to take stock” on ” offers “.
Emmanuel Macron’s entourage, who insisted on the “very strong dimension of the symbol” of his surprise participation in this meeting, assured that this “important announcement” had been “very well received by the participants”.
Darmanin on the status of Corsica: “We are ready to go as far as autonomy”
According to the Presidency, the Head of State has also “remembered that there was a common destiny which was to be written, built, rebuilt with Corsica”. He also felt that everyone should do “one step towards each other” because there will be “never an ideal path” and “Not everyone will ever be 100% satisfied”.
According to Emmanuel Macron, the institutional future of the island “could draw inspiration from many Mediterranean models” in terms of decentralization or differentiation.
What autonomy?
These consultations, which should address the thorny issue of Corsica’s potential autonomy, were officially launched in July 2022, four months after the fatal attack in prison of the independence activist Yvan Colonna (March 2, 2022, at the prison of Arles).
The last months in prison of Yvan Colonna, a detainee under close surveillance
The death (Monday March 21, 2022) of this member of the commando condemned for the assassination in 1998 of the prefect Claude Erignac had sparked violent demonstrations on the island. Gérald Darmanin then undertook to discuss the future of the island, until “potential autonomy”.
Discussions on the institutional future of Corsica have however been seized up so far around the repeated refusals to grant a semi-freedom regime to two other members of the commando, Alain Ferrandi and Pierre Alessandri, who have been released since 2017. Justice finally acceded to their request, a month ago for Pierre Alessandri and Thursday February 23 for Alain Ferrandi. Both were serving life sentences.
