Emmanuel Macron has “no taboo” on the institutional future of Corsica. He even said he was ready to include changes in his reform of the Constitution “after the summer”, said the Elysée on Friday.
The Head of State invited himself this morning to the resumption of discussions with the Corsican elected officials on the institutional future of Corsica at the Ministry of the Interior. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who has been organizing this flurry of talks for several months, said the government was waiting for proposals from “the nationalist majority” on the island.
The participation of the Head of State in this meeting at Place Beauvau had not been announced in advance. “He is participating in the opening of the third Corsican strategic committee in Beauvau”, specifies the Élysée without further explanation at this stage. Macron told the Corsican elected officials that he had “no taboos” on the institutional future of the island and said he was ready to include changes in his reform of the Constitution “after the summer”.
“Potential autonomy”
These consultations, which must address the thorny question of a potential autonomy for Corsica, were officially launched in July 2022, four months after the deadly attack in prison of the independence activist Yvan Colonna. The death 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, up to “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 for Alain Ferrandi. Both were serving life sentences.