The first visit scheduled for October 2020, three months after its installation in Matignon, was postponed because of the epidemic resumption. And since then, nothing. No Jean Castex in Corsica. The local elected officials understood that he would come to see them before the end of the year, but according to our information this will not happen: “With the rise in Covid cases, this firing window is closing “, explains Matignon. “This will probably be done early next year, specifies a close friend of the Prime Minister, even if at this stage, there is still no scheduled date. “
What is behind, decrypts an elected Corsican, is fear “the flop, a visit for nothing, or a quack “, linked to pending cases between Paris and Ajaccio. There are three to be cleared, starting with the sensitive issue of the transfer of Corsican prisoners. Two of Prefect Erignac’s murderers ask to end their sentence in a prison in Haute-Corse, as the law allows them to do. Their demands are tirelessly rejected by the courts, proof for the nationalists that the decision is less legal than political. On the same line, a walker privately considers that “the republic does not respect national law with regard to these prisoners. “
Second sensitive subject between Paris and Ajaccio: the fine due to the Corsica Ferries shipping company. The Council of State judges that the Corsican community has disadvantaged the company by granting a subsidy to its competitor, the former Société Nationale Corse Méditerranée (SNCM). Amount of the fine to be paid to repair the damage: 86.3 million euros. The Corsican community considers that it is for the State to pay, the State considers that it is for the community.
Corsica enjoys a special status, which allows it to request specific exemptions when a national decision is taken. Out of 72 requests for exemptions, notes a connoisseur, “70 received no response, one was refused, and one is under investigation. “The sign according to him that the State does not respect its word.
Obviously, all these matters will not be settled by the beginning of next year. But the idea is to demine as much as possible, in particular to allow the future candidate Macron to return to Corsica. The entourage of Jean Castex evokes “discussions that are progressing well. “But there is no way that”his visit is going well, according to an elected official, and whatever the date. “
“With the presidential election coming up, the nationalists will take great pleasure in being the fly of the boat “, anticipates an elected official. Especially since since 2009, the autonomists have seen their strategy – the balance of power – validated in each local election. “When the population gives them an increasingly large majority in each election, it is not an accident, it must be taken into account “, warns a deputy.
There may be a vehicle for this: the 3DS law, or decentralization law which is coming to the Assembly. Corsican MPs tabled a number of amendments to strengthen the specific nature of the island’s statute. The government has not yet given its position on these amendments.