Gérald Darmanin went to Corsica this Wednesday, March 16. Two weeks after the attempted assassination of Yvan Colonna, the Minister of the Interior tried to play the appeasement card. He gave an interview to RCFM after meeting “the political, economic and social forces” of the island.
RCFM: This Wednesday in Corsica morning, you dropped the word, “autonomy”, but you also set a prerequisite: the return to calm. On Wednesday, there were occupations of public buildings and a press release from the FLNC threatening a return to arms. Are the conditions now in place for this return to dialogue?
Gerald Darmanin : I believe that there is no Corsican, no French who accepts that violence is a mode of action and claim. Corsica knows this too well and Corsican families know in particular that violence unfortunately leads to violence and the end of a dialogue and the future. And for the youth who demonstrate, there can be no future in violence. It is therefore obvious that there can be no dialogue, no construction, no decisions taken when agricultural bombs are sent to police or gendarmes. I still remember that there are 130 police officers or gendarmes injured.
Today, the situation is appeased?
It’s a bit early to tell. I come to Corsica for three days, I met Mr. President Simeoni (the president of the executive council of Corsica, editor’s note), the elected officials, including the opposition and the living forces. I see that everyone has come to meet me, everyone has come to talk. We ended this meeting, sometimes with differences, but in any case by listening to each other, I think it’s a good first step.
Valérie Pécresse accuses you of giving in to pressure from the street, what do you say to her?
I’m not here to play political politics, I’m Minister of the Interior in charge of my country’s security. I am there so that there is no death, neither on the side of the demonstrators, nor on the side of the police. I am here to make progress on issues for which Ms. Pécresse and others have sometimes been responsible. I also recall that it is the Senate, where the friends of Madame Pécresse are in the majority, which refused the constitutional reform proposed by the President of the Republic with the word “Corsica”. I therefore believe that everyone must look at their responsibilities. I believe that the qualities of a statesman or a stateswoman is precisely not to engage in demagoguery.
What happens if we find violence similar to that of last Sunday in Bastia?
I don’t want to believe it. Firstly, because the State will shed light on the despicable assassination attempt against Yvan Colonna through three means: the parliamentary hearings taking place today, the judicial inquiry entrusted to an examining magistrate and then of course, by the administrative inquiry which will be made public next week by the Prime Minister. I came by extending my hand, listening, talking and saying that we have gone quite far in what a minister has been able to do so far in the Republic, that is to say to evoke the autonomy . Now we need to discuss what this autonomy is.
This is precisely the question, you say “autonomy”, remains to know what we put in it. In law, autonomy is the legislative power…
Of course, it is partly the legislative power, it is the fiscal power, it is the economic and social competences, but there are many islands in the Mediterranean, they are all autonomous. I note that they have very different institutional systems from each other. In my interview with Corse-Matin, I proposed a Polynesian status, but maybe that’s not what Corsican elected officials want. I note in discussing with each of the group presidents that there are divergent points of view, which is normal. So we have to start work. There are the symbols, there are the words, they have been said, now we have to work on the substance.
There is the institutional question, it must be defined, but there are also economic and social questions. I think it is very important not to forget the issues of housing, agriculture, high cost of living, speculation of over-tourism, waste, transport… Because we would only be talking about the question institutional. We must speak to the Corsicans too, directly, and to the public services that we owe to the Corsicans, both the State and the Collectivity, which has skills, and perhaps we can improve the public service in these skills.
To speak of status in the Polynesian way is to go quite far since it will require a revision of the Constitution. How can you guarantee today that in the event of re-election, Emmanuel Macron will have a sufficient majority to achieve this? Unless you are considering a referendum?
I am not President of the Republic, but what I know is that the President has asked me to make this proposal. He asked me to lead these discussions and therefore, if we were to move towards something that would be a proposal for a constitutional amendment, I would propose it to the President of the Republic.
Then, it is obviously necessary that all those who are crying wolf today have a sense of responsibility when things happen. I don’t want to believe that after months of discussion and dialogue, when we would arrive – I put the conditional because it is a possibility that we might not agree – when we would arrive at a project unprecedented for Corsica and for the Republic as well as for Corsica, in the Republic, that there are people who play the worst. It wouldn’t be possible. It wouldn’t be proper.
What is the timetable for the opening of negotiations around this autonomy statute?
I proposed as of the two weeks, three weeks which arrive, that we can begin to meet again in Paris since I will not have the right to move because of the reserve period. Obviously, we will not resolve everything in one meeting, but I propose to do so, to start before the first round of the presidential election to show that the word given by the government, by the President of the Republic and by myself is serious. The question would be complicated and long, but we could work all summer. We can imagine that by the end of 2022, we have a first project to discuss together.
There is autonomy and then there is a point of tension, the so-called political prisoners. Pierre Alessandri and Alain Ferrandi – sentenced for the assassination of the prefect Erignac – who have been asking for their rapprochement for several years. When will they be closer?
Today, there are lifting of their DPS status. They themselves have court appointments, including April 21 for one of them, during which they ask for parole. So first the question is what is their own personal status, their personal demand?
Second, there can be no rapprochement while agricultural bombs or axes are thrown at police and gendarmes in families. This is what happened again very recently in Porto-Vecchio. There can be no reconciliation if there is violence that brings police, gendarmes, fathers, mothers to the hospital, in extremely serious cases. So calm first, and also the personal request of the detainees. But this rapprochement is recorded, it will be done and it will be done at Borgo prison where the work was undertaken before the attempted homicide against Yvan Colonna. We must be able to look at this calmly and now quickly
If this return to calm takes place, can it be done before the first round?
I said it: as quickly as possible.
How was this first day with the Corsican elected officials, with the living forces? Was it constructive?
The President of the Republic entrusted me with a difficult mission. First by the context, but also following the events that took place and the despicable attempt against Yvan Colonna. I wanted to come to the Collectivity of Corsica and not to the prefecture, I see that I was able to do so. I met President Simeoni at length with whom I have already spoken several times by telephone before. All elected officials were present, groups represented in the Assembly, including the nationalists. We discussed with all the active forces, including those most opposed to the government. I have heard them, and in particular those of the youth. So I believe this is a first day of dialogue. Paris was not built in a day, Corsica was not built in a day. I deeply respect the culture, the language, the identity of Corsica and it is through this mutual respect that we will be able to move forward, as long as other days are like these.