“Without touching the Constitution, I do not see what more could be done than what is currently planned with regard to Corsica” in terms of autonomy, decrypts Wednesday March 16 on franceinfo Jean-Philippe Derosier, constitutionalist and professor of public law at the University of Lille. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told the Corse-Matin daily that he was ready “to go as far as autonomy”asking for a return to calm prior to dialogue.
“Our constitutional law does not give any definition of what autonomy is, it can cover many different realities”, says Jean-Philippe Derosier. The constitutionalist also specifies that the community of Corsica already benefits from a “special status”recognized by the Constitution and “is therefore not a region within the meaning of ordinary law.”
“If you want to strengthen your powers in the legislative field, then you would have to actually revise the Constitution. If you envisage a revision, anything is possible”, assures Jean-Philippe Derosier. A revision had been “envisaged at some point at the start of the quinquennium”remembers the professor of public law at the University of Lille. “But any constitutional revision has been suspended in view of the vicissitudes of this five-year term, perhaps this is what is now coming back to the table”.
Some overseas collectivities already have greater autonomy. “New Caledonia benefits from a specific title in our Constitution which is not the same as that which concerns all the other territorial communities and which offers it a status allowing a very great autonomy”explains Jean-Philippe Derosier.
The notion of autonomy, within the framework of the law of local authorities, is “one degree below” of that of independence, further specifies the constitutionalist. “Because we remain attached to a central State by having more advanced autonomic faculties than other communities of the same Republic.”
A decision granting more autonomy to Corsica could lead to “an inequality” between local authorities, warns Jean-Philippe Derosier. “This can open Pandora’s box, leading to other territories of the Republic also asking for specific rights or to taking into account local specificities that concern them. Why not, tomorrow, Brittany or other regions of France?asks the constitutionalist.