2023-09-28 10:07:52
Published on September 28, 2023 at 12:07 p.m. Modified on September 28, 2023 at 1:10 p.m.
Emmanuel Macron wants to see it as a “historic” moment. At the opening of his two-day trip to the Isle of Beauty, the French president gave a highly scrutinized speech to the Corsican Assembly in Ajaccio. And he opened the way to “autonomy”, the long-awaited word was pronounced, in order to “fully anchor Corsica in the Republic and recognize the singularity of its insularity”.
This “new institutional stage” will involve a modification of the French Constitution with the introduction of an article on the separate status of Corsica. The powers which might be partly transferred to local authorities (taxation, standards, etc.) suggest a status comparable to that of New Caledonia or that of Catalonia in Spain.
No official language
Emmanuel Macron also called for better teaching of the Corsican language without mentioning a move to official language status requested by the majority of elected officials.
The fact that this presidential speech ended with applause in this assembly dominated by autonomists and nationalists gives an overview of the ambition of a project that local elected officials have been calling for for a long time. A spirit of consensus which contrasts with the tensions of recent years, in particular with the violence which followed the death of the independence activist Yvan Colonna.
Read also: Behind the funeral of Yvan Colonna, an island and a Republic eaten away by Corsican evil
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