French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed granting a degree of autonomy to Corsica, seeking to “turn a page marked by sombre hours” in the Mediterranean island scarred by decades of conflict with Paris. His long-awaited overture sets in motion a protracted and complex push for constitutional reform that is littered with obstacles.
Six years into his presidency, and 18 months after unrest spread like wildfire across the île de Beauté ("isle of Beauty"), Macron finally dropped the a-word last week in an address to Corsica’s local elected assembly in Ajaccio.
“Let us have the audacity to build a Corsican autonomy within the Republic,” Macron said in the October 28 speech, extending an “outstretched hand” in the chamber dominated by Corsican nationalists, some of whom advocate independence from France.
He offered scant detail about the degree of autonomy he had in mind, though warning that any devolved powers for the Mediterranean island must be agreed with the French state – and not “against” it.
The speech was, as Macron himself put it, “historic” – if only in name. Never before had a French president openly endorsed autonomy for the island, which has been part of France since it was purchased from its Genoese rulers in 1768 and then forcefully subdued.
The president set a six-month deadline for Corsican political parties to agree – with his government – on a proposed revision to the Constitution enshrining the island’s status, which would then be examined by parliament in Paris.
Reactions to his speech, however, offered an early indication of just how fraught that process is likely to prove.
Gilles Simeoni, a moderate nationalist and the head of Corsica’s regional administration, hailed the president’s address, noting that Macron had issued “no red lines, implying that everything is on the table”.
The speech also offered “nothing concrete”, tempered his hardline ally Jean-Guy Talamoni, head of the pro-independence camp, for whom Macron’s words featured “no steps to save our language, no recognition of the Corsican people – indeed nothing historic.”
‘One and indivisible’
Corsican nationalists, who include both separatists and advocates of autonomy, have long clamoured for greater powers for the island. Their demands include the recognition of Corsican – which is closer to Italian dialects than French – as an official language.
Such topics remain highly sensitive in France, where politicians routinely tout the need to protect the country’s unity and national identity, harking back to the oft-quoted Jacobin slogan from 1793: “The Republic is one and indivisible”.
In that respect, Macron’s decision to endorse autonomy signals an “extremely significant development” in the Corsican standoff, said John Loughlin, a research fellow at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford and an expert in French regional politics.
“Autonomy has traditionally been a taboo term and topic, seen as undermining the unity of the French Republic,” he said. “But in recent years we have seen attitudes change, with some politicians opting for a more flexible attitude towards autonomy.”
They include Macron himself, who studiously avoided the term “autonomy” when he first visited Corsica as president in 2018.
Since then, however, the island’s political landscape has altered significantly, starting with its regional assembly, where Corsican nationalists won more than two-thirds of seats in local elections in 2021.
“When 70% of voters back some form of autonomy from Paris, the government cannot act like nothing happened,” noted Thierry Dominici, a political analyst and Corsica expert at the University of Bordeaux in southwest France, for whom Macron's tentative overture towards Corsican autonomy is in step with similar trends witnessed in other unitary states across Europe.
Francesi fora
Less than a year after the nationalist landslide in local elections, the need to address Corsica’s complaints became all too urgent when rioting swept across the Mediterranean island following a fatal prison attack on Corsican militant nationalist Yvan Colonna, who was serving a life sentence for the 1998 assassination of prefect Claude Érignac, the French state’s top official on the island.
Read morePrison attack on Corsican nationalist reopens old wounds on restive French island
Colonna’s five years on the run – hiding as a shepherd in the Corsican scrubland long romanticised as a hideout for patriots and bandits – had turned him into a symbol of the island’s defiance towards the French state, and his death in custody triggered a furious response.
Thousands of protesters marched through towns and cities across the island, holding up banners that read Statu Francese Assassinu ("The French state is an assassin") and I Francesi fora ("Out with the French"). Youths clashed with police and targeted French symbols, fanning fears of a return to the violence and bloodshed that scarred the island from the 1970s to the turn of the century.
Erignac’s assassination marked the culmination of Corsica’s violent struggle for independence – and the first time a French prefect was killed since the post was created two centuries before by the most famous of Corsicans, Napoleon Bonaparte. The opprobrium it stirred eventually encouraged the nationalist camp to abandon the armed struggle and engage with the democratic process.
“Corsica has chosen the democratic path for some time now,” said Paulu Santu Parigi, the first Corsican nationalist to be elected to the French Senate, speaking shortly after the riots triggered by Colonna’s killing in 2022.
“The nationalist camp has proven it wants to turn the page on Corsica’s violent past,” he added. “But the French state has not lived up to expectations.”
Corsican 'community' vs Corsican 'people'
While Macron took a significant step towards addressing Corsican concerns in Ajaccio last week, his balancing act still fell short of most demands voiced by the nationalist camp over the years.
The French president spoke of the island’s “historic, linguistic and cultural community,” but did not refer to the “Corsican people”. He called for the Corsican language to be “better taught and placed at the heart of Corsican life”, but veered clear of granting it official status alongside French. He also promised fiscal measures to combat speculation in the housing market, but avoided talk of a special residency status to protect native Corsicans priced out by holidaymakers from the continent.
Overall, the French president offered very little detail regarding the autonomy he envisioned for Corsica, though he did open the door to granting the island some “normative” powers “under the supervision of the Constitutional Court” – suggesting an openness to legislative autonomy in certain fields.
“Macron went as far as the Constitution will allow him to go,” cautioned Dominici, noting that the French head of state spoke in his capacity as president of the Republic and “guarantor” of its institutions.
“Corsican nationalists know very well that, under the Constitution, French is the sole language of the Republic,” Dominici explained. Similarly, he added, “French law cannot accept a special status for island residents, since it would infringe upon the principle of equality before the law.”
By endorsing the principle of autonomy, “Macron has already crossed the Rubicon”, he added. It is now up to lawmakers, in Ajaccio and Paris, to give it substance.
Inspiring other regions?
Under the timetable set out by the French president, Corsican lawmakers have until March 2024 to reach some form of “consensus” on a proposal for Corsican autonomy that is acceptable to his government. The proposal would then move to the parliament in Paris, where both chambers would need to strike a deal on a constitutional article that can garner three fifths of all votes in the united assembly.
Even before the proposal reaches Paris, the negotiations are likely to expose and exacerbate differences between advocates of Corsican autonomy and those who favour a break with the mainland.
“The real question is what role will be played by the pro-independence camp, those for whom autonomy is merely a step,” Dominici observed. “Should they be sidelined during the process, one can fear a return of violence.”
Further hurdles can be expected in parliament, where the far-right National Rally party has already pledged to reject the move, accusing Macron of attempting to “deconstruct the French nation”. As for the conservative Les Républicains, which dominate the Senate, they are traditionally at loggerheads with Corsican nationalists and are reluctant to devolve power to autonomist movements.
Moreover, both the conservative camp and the government will be looking on anxiously as other French regions starved of money and prerogatives seize on the Corsican talks to ask for devolved powers of their own.
Just as Macron spoke in Ajaccio, his Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne was wrapping up an annual congress of French regions in the Breton town of Saint-Malo, where regional chiefs welcomed the overture towards Corsica – while asking for equal treatment. Loïg Chesnais-Girard, the head of Brittany’s regional council, handed Borne a 30-page document detailing the domains in which his administration believes it can do better than the central government.
“Having long been influenced by regionalist movements elsewhere in Europe, Corsica has now become the tip of the spear when it comes to advocating devolved powers,” said Dominici. “It could influence regionalists on the French mainland.”
Loughlin of Blackfriars Hall pointed to a parallel with growing competition between local administrations in Spain, where regions with ordinary powers are eager to catch up with those – like Catalonia and the Basque Country – that enjoy special prerogatives.
“In time, we could well see this happening in France should Corsica acquire devolved powers,” he said. “It could trigger a race to catch up with Corsica.”
