2023-10-02 16:00:00
“You just won a trip to the Maldives.” We know these flashy advertisements, which we realize, by consulting the passages in the small print, that they do not really say what they claim. The phenomenon also exists in politics. In the eyes of those concerned, Emmanuel Macron’s commitment to autonomy for Corsica could be part of this. This September 28, the Head of State affirmed from the Assembly of Corsica, in Ajaccio, that he was in favor of a constitutional revision concerning the status of the Isle of Beauty. Declaration raising all hopes on the autonomist side. Among their main demands, going further than those of their model – New Caledonia -, that the Corsican language can be used instead of French in administration or that a “Corsican preference” be created in access housing, thanks to a resident status. However, President Macron has repeatedly opposed these provisions.
No red line but…
“There is no red line”, promises the President of the Republic in his Ajaccio declaration, but he also announces that “it will not be autonomy against the State, nor autonomy without the State” . No Corsican citizenship, therefore. Emmanuel Macron imagines a new article of the Constitution, created especially for Corsica, which would recognize the “specificities” of its “island, historical, linguistic and cultural community”. Concretely, this would place the island at the constitutional level of overseas communities, expanded regulatory powers would be granted to the Corsican Assembly. Bilingualism, in particular, should be encouraged. “We need to give more space to the Corsican language, in education and in the public space,” argued Emmanuel Macron.
In the best case scenario, the autonomist camp will take note of the good will of the government, will be satisfied with this glass half full and we will have to salute the victorious audacity of the President of the Republic. The fact remains that it is risky to pretend to move forward on the autonomy of Corsica while dismissing the main pretensions of the autonomists. A feeling of disappointment with unpredictable consequences could grip island activists. If at least the project succeeds. Via the Senate, the Republicans have a right of veto. They have already explained that they will oppose any status similar to that of New Caledonia.
#Autonomy #Corsica #risk #disappointment