Corsican elected officials adopted a constitutional project on Wednesday evening providing for “a status of autonomy” for Corsica. For it to be implemented, however, it will be necessary to modify the French Constitution, which will not be an easy task for the executive.
A first step taken for the island. The constitutional project providing “a status of autonomy (…) within the Republic” was adopted by a large majority on Wednesday March 27 by the Corsican Assembly. Discussions on a form of autonomy were launched after weeks of violence in 2022, following the assassination of independence activist Yvan Colonna in prison. In September, Emmanuel Macron proposed “the entrance to Corsica in the French Constitution” And “autonomy for Corsica”which is not “neither against the State nor without the State”.
“It is above all an informal step, there was no obligation to consult the Corsican Assemblycomments constitutionalist Jean-Philippe Derosier. It is a courtesy, but also a means of pressure since the parliamentarians who will have to decide on the reform, and in particular the senators, will be able to more or less oppose it with this result of the vote.” Franceinfo takes stock of this election and the next steps to take, before a possible modification of the Constitution.
What does this text provide?
Envious of Guyana, Alsace, the Basque Country and Brittany, this text is the one on which the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, and eight Corsican elected officials agreed in mid-March in Paris. The text, composed of six paragraphs, was submitted to a vote in three parts, on the notion of Corsican community, the possibility of normative power granted to island elected officials, and finally the idea of submitting this text to Corsican voters via a popular consultation. “With this text, we go a little further than the regime planned for the overseas departments and regions, but we are not at all at the same level as New Caledonia which has a much more advanced autonomous status “remarks Jean-Philippe Derosier.
The first part, paragraph 1, was approved by 62 elected officials out of 63. It provides “the recognition of an autonomous status for Corsica within the Republic which takes into account its own interests linked to its Mediterranean insularity, to its historical, linguistic and cultural community having developed a singular link to its land”. The third part, paragraph 6, considering validation of this text by a popular consultation of Corsican voters, without a specific date, also received only one vote against from the 63 voters.
The last minutes of the session @AssembleeCorse devoted to the inscription of the #Corsica in the Constitution: Summary of votes: pic.twitter.com/NlO2fkrDmI
— France 3 Corse (@FTViaStella) March 27, 2024
The part on the legislative power which could be granted to Corsican elected officials, corresponding to paragraphs 2 to 5 of the text, obtained 49 votes for, 13 against and one abstention. This is the most divisive point. It states that “laws and regulations may be subject to adaptations justified by the specificities of this status [autonome]. The Corsican community may be empowered to decide on the adaptation of these standards in the matters, conditions and subject to the reservations provided for by the organic law.. Finally, a fourth vote was taken by 62 votes. for and one against that “the text thus adopted be transmitted to Parliament”.
What are Corsican elected officials divided on?
After the debates and before the votes, the autonomist president of the executive council of Corsica, Gilles Simeoni, described a “extremely powerful and strong democratic moment”judging that this consultation of island elected officials was “a tremendous message of hope”even if she “keep silent about our disagreements.” The co-president of the right-wing group Un Soffiu Novu, Jean-Martin Mondoloni, explained why he and part of his group did not wish to approve this text in its entirety, “the heart of [sa] divergence” being “legislative power” considered.
“You consider that there is no autonomy without legislative power”he told Gilles Simeoni. “You aim to exercise all legislative powers, except the sovereign”which means “social security, pensions, National Education…” he recalled. “I do not want these skills to be managed by the Corsican Assembly, I do not want to go that far.” “You have not shown me that tomorrow the Corsicans will be better off because there will be legislative power. (…) When we write the law, we are no longer from the same country, when we writes our own laws, we no longer belong to the same country”insisted his colleague Jean-Louis Seatelli, also elected Un Soffiu Novu.
The co-president of the right-wing group Valérie Bozzi, for her part, made it known that she would “vote this text”refusing to “take the risk of being the one who will cause the process to fail”. “Let’s give ourselves the means to exert all our strength rather than self-exclude”, she added. Among the separatists, the only elected member of the Nazione party, Josepha Giacometti, claimed to be “against this deliberation”which she sees as “a barrier and not a decisive step”believing that we “is preparing to inscribe what is not essential in the stone of the Constitution”. The text, according to her, “comes to protect what will not be possible to do, but does not come to say where possibilities open up, what a constitutional text must do.
What steps remain to be taken?
It is now a matter of amending the Constitution. As the question of a referendum is not on the table, it remains the option of Congress. However, the right, with a majority in the Senate, is hostile to this constitutional reform which, to be validated, will have to be voted on identically by the National Assembly and in the Senate, before the meeting of deputies and senators in Congress, where a majority three-fifths will be required. As during recent debates on the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution, the executive faces the reluctance of the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, and the leader of the LR senators, Bruno Retailleau.
Contrary to official proclamations, the project on #Corsica amounts to constitutionalizing communitarianism. Recognizing “a historical, linguistic and cultural community” amounts to recognizing the notion of the Corsican people as stated last February 25…
— Bruno Retailleau (@BrunoRetailleau) March 12, 2024
“If the senatorial right opposes it head-on, yes, it will be impossible, but we have to see the political path”delays Jean-Philippe Derosier. “I was not betting on the chances of success of the constitutionalization of abortion”, recognizes the constitutionalist. But popular pressure was decisive in changing the minds of senators. It is however unlikely to find the same level of mobilization of civil society on the Corsican question.
“There is a double difficulty: the senatorial barrier, but also that of Congress where we will need three-fifths. If it just passes the Assembly and especially the Senate, it will not be enough”, continues Jean-Philippe Derosier. Especially since the presidential camp is not entirely in favor of this text. “In the majority, it will be complicated”assured an influential Renaissance deputy before the vote of the Corsican Assembly. We don’t feel connected to this subject and for my part I am skeptical.” The debates therefore promise to be long.