An agreement on the “autonomy status of Corsica within the Republic” was reached between Gérald Darmanin and the elected islanders on the night of March 11 to 12. But how far does the autonomy and powers granted to Corsica extend?
The “Beauvau process” did result in an agreement on the autonomy of Corsica between the State and representatives of the island of beauty. After a five-hour long meeting on the night of Monday March 11 to Tuesday March 12, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced the constitutional revision project concerning “the recognition of an autonomous status” of the island. within the Republic. The agreement focused more specifically on the first paragraph of the constitutional writing which was worded as follows: “This constitutional writing provides for the recognition of a status of autonomy for Corsica within the Republic which takes into account its own interests linked to its Mediterranean insularity, to its historical, linguistic and cultural community having developed a singular link to its land.
The agreement reached “respects both the red lines set by the President of the Republic and myself, and also the time allocated” by Emmanuel Macron, declared Gérald Darmanin. A period of six months due to end at the end of March was left to the minister to decide and find a solution on the status of Corsica. Also satisfactory for Gilles Simeoni, the autonomist president of the executive council of Corsica who welcomes a “decisive step” for the island territory.
Corsican representatives have been campaigning for years to obtain a special status for Corsica due to the particularities of the territory. A request which was heard with the agreement of an autonomous status, but Gérald Darmanin insisted on the fact that this autonomy does not take the island out of the scope of the French Republic: “There is no separation of Corsica with the Republic”. This was an insurmountable line for the State which refused to recognize or even mention in the constitutional writing “the people”, “the status of resident” or “the co-officiality of the Corsican language”.
“There is no notion of [Corsican] people but of cultural community” insisted the minister again, ruling out the establishment of a “resident status” and the distinction between “two categories of citizens” between the Corsicans. and the other inhabitants of the island, especially those originally from the mainland.
