The President of the Republic opened the way, Thursday, for autonomy for Corsica, “neither against the State, nor without the State”, and gave six months to the island’s elected officials to come up with a text to propose in Parliament.
“Autonomy for Corsica”, but “in the Republic” : Emmanuel Macron made commitments on Thursday September 28 before the Corsican Assembly, in Ajaccio, where his speech was eagerly awaited. The Head of State promises in particular to include the island in the Constitution, to better fight against real estate speculation and to promote the Corsican language in schools.
>> Language, currency, skills… In Emmanuel Macron’s proposal for “autonomy for Corsica”, what are the differences with independence?
Announcements which are not unanimously received by the population. In Bastia, where Emmanuel Macron commemorates the Liberation, on the large Place Saint-Nicolas, by the sea, there are those who applaud, shout bravo and come to thank him. “I am very happy with his speechMaurice assumes. Autonomy, we are in favor of it, while being French.” “There is a whole file to put together, it is the Congress which will decide, but it is an important day today”, continues his son.
“There are a lot of obstacles to overcome, but he opened the door, this is the first time.”
But others stand at a distance, look up or shrug their shoulders when we tell them about the president’s speech, like Marilou, who brings her two little daughters home from school: “It remains to be seen what will be done, what will be studied. There are a lot of question marks so honestly, it’s vague, we don’t really know what will be proposed, what it will change for the Corsica and the Corsicans.”
“A Norman speech”
Jean-Louis shares Marilou’s skepticism. “Emmanuel Macron’s speech was a bit of a Norman speech: ‘maybe yes, maybe no’. Politically, he tries to contain possible violenceanalyzes this Corsican. Indeed, he made announcements, he said the word autonomy, but that is well supervised. It puts the parties back in the game for six months. But the nationalists’ demand for a full and complete economy, obviously, he said no.”
What worries other passers-by is what happens next: saying the word “autonomy”, including Corsica in the Constitution. It’s a big step, but the project may come up against the next stage: the Corsicans will first have to overcome their own divisions, come to an agreement between different sensibilities, then with the government around a text which will be used to amend the Constitution.
The Senate, the last step, and surely the most difficult
Emmanuel Macron has set a deadline of six months and for the deputy Liot of Corsica, supporter of autonomy, Jean-Félix Acquaviva, everything begins. “There is a path so we must continue on the path of constitutional adoption which, as we all know, is a hurdle jump. We know that other steps must consolidate it over time to arrive at full autonomy which corresponds to our ideal.”
“We are at the beginning of the story, not at the end. It’s an important step. It doesn’t cover everything we asked for, but this step is a moment that should not be missed. “
Jean-Félix Acquaviva, Liot deputy of Corsicaat franceinfo
But when this famous text to modify the Constitution is ready, there will still be the highest step to take: the Senate. Because the agreement of 3/5 of Parliament is required to complete the process,
since it is necessary to obtain the agreement of three-fifths of parliament to be able to go to the end, and the upper house is fiercely opposed to progress on the subject. But the autonomists have not said their last word and want to play their last card: the local referendum, to make the voice of the Corsican people weigh in the negotiations.