“We are ready to go as far as autonomy. That’s it, the word is said.” The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, took a first step towards the elected officials of Corsica by paving the way for autonomy for the island, in an interview with Corse-Morning, Wednesday, March 16. Visiting the island, he promised to talk about “the institutional question in the first place” on condition of a “return to calm”. For 10 days, in fact, demonstrations and violence have multiplied after the attack on Yvan Colonna, on March 2, in the prison of Arles. The Corsican independence activist, sentenced for the assassination of the prefect Erignac in 1998, is still in a coma. Franceinfo takes stock of this announcement on an island where “the voices claiming Corsican nationalism or autonomy” have accumulated “nearly 70% of the vote in the last regional elections last June”.
What did the Minister of the Interior say?
“The question is to know what this autonomy is. We have to discuss it. And that takes time, because it is about the future of the Corsicans”, said the Minister of the Interior. At the end of a Council of Ministers on Wednesday, Gérald Darmanin specified that “autonomy” considered can only be granted after a “long process”, “in the months or years to come”.
This announcement has an air of deja vu. Shortly before the last presidential election, in April 2017, candidate Emmanuel Macron believed he could “consider going further and revising the Constitution” if “the current framework does not allow Corsica to develop its potential”. The hopes of the elected nationalists had quickly been calmed: during a speech in February 2018, the president had swept away most of their demands. Only the mention of Corsica in the Constitution had been mentioned again, without being concretized since.
“These are important words, which open up a perspective, but words which should now be given extensions and concretizations”, reacted the autonomist president of the executive council of Corsica, Gilles Simeoni, after the interview with Gérald Darmanin. AT less than a month before the presidential election, the negotiations started are therefore conditional on the re-election of Emmanuel Macron. At the question “why now ?” posed by Corse-Morningthe minister mentioned “the gravity of the events”.
What is the current status of Corsica?
The single collectivity of Corsica is “unique in the territory”. It results from the merger between the former territorial community of Corsica and the two departmental councils, explains André Fazi, specialist in Corsican nationalism and lecturer in political science at the University of Corsica. Unlike other French regions, in Corsica, “the separation is clear between the deliberative body and the executive body”.
“Since 1992, the assembly of Corsica has elected an executive council headed by a president and can adopt a motion of censure against this executive council, like a parliament.”
André Fazi, lecturer at the University of Corsicaat franceinfo
Another specificity: Corsica has “some administrative skills, sometimes important as in transport since 1982, since the assembly adopts the methods of organization of air and maritime transport”. Some jurisdictions, such as national roads, have “first given to the elected officials of Corsica in 1991 before being extended to continentals in 2004”.
Moreover, the particular status of the island allows it to request specific exemptions when a national decision is taken. But out of 72 waiver requests, “70 received no response, one was refused, and one is under investigation”noted a connoisseur of the file interviewed by franceinfo. The sign according to him that the State does not respect its word.
What are the Corsican elected officials asking for?
Already, in 1991, Corsica wanted to fix the notion of “Corsican people” in a decision on the “statute of Corsica”, but this law was censored by the Constitutional Council. Thirty years later, this claim is still valid. Thursday, March 10, after a telephone exchange with the Prime Minister, the President of the Executive Council of Corsica asked “a new political cycle” for “to say clearly that there is a Corsican question”. A citizen collective was also created on the same day, with the objective of recognizing the Corsican people.
Gilles Simeoni believes that there are currently “a constitutional problem” : “Everyone knows that there is a Corsican people with his community, his language, his culture, his relationship to his land” corn “we can’t say it and recognize it”. For the autonomist president of the executive council of the community of Corsica, “we have to invent a legal and political change that also respects the fundamental principles of the French Republic”.
What would autonomy look like?
With this process of autonomy, certain powers – such as “taxation”, “policy against land speculation” or “certain economic development policies” – would be transferred “by right to the community of Corsica, which will exercise real normative power, of a legislative nature”, has explained Gilles Simeoni. The regal skills, they, would stay “in the domain of the State”. Transferring powers to Corsica, while preserving state control over sovereign powers, is also the option favored by the presidents of the regions of France. “For the first time”, they recently said they were in favor of “recognize in Corsica a status of reinforced autonomy in the Republic”.
For this it is necessary “create a new article in the Constitution”. And “this has been done more than 20 times since 1958”, recalls André Fazi. After an optional preliminary regional referendum, the same bill must be adopted by the National Assembly and by the Senate. The text must then go through a national referendum or be approved by the Parliament convened in Congress. In the latter case, it is necessary to reach 3/5ths of the votes. If this process is successful, powers would be transferred to Corsica, such as taxation, “number one policy instrument”, to analyse André Fazi.
In a context of tension on the land and real estate issue, “it can have an impact”. But beware, “autonomy is always something relative”, recalls the Corsican university.
“Not all taxes can be transferred, but there could be a sharing of income tax proceeds as in Spain, where the state and the region decide on the installments for their share.”
André Fazi, lecturer at the University of Corsicaat franceinfo
Likewise, “the royal functions can differ according to the place and the time. Except for the army, it is not an absolute, it is always debatable. The maintenance of order is well shared in Catalonia”insists political scientist.
What statutes already exist?
In his interview at Corse-MorningGérald Darmanin informs that “chosen ones” corsicans have mentioned “a Polynesian status”. Since the constitutional revision of 2003, there are two legislative regimes for overseas collectivities. The system of legislative identity (Mayotte, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique and La Réunion) differs from the system known as legislative specialty and autonomy (French Polynesia, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and Wallis and futuna). New Caledonia and the French Southern and Antarctic Lands have a “special status”.
In French Polynesia, the organization is thus close to an assembly parliamentarism, with a president, a government and promulgated laws. With an assembly elected by direct universal suffrage, French Polynesia has full jurisdiction over economic and social issues, education, health, equipment and the environment. The French State continues the sovereign missions of security, relief, justice, foreign policy and defence.
Other French territories, such as Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, are also endowed with autonomy and can govern their taxation, their town planning, their housing. “We can therefore create exceptions to the general principles”concludes André Fazi. “Now, for Corsica, which ones? It will be more difficult, for example, to obtain the co-official status of a regional language than to insert a mention which will allow immersive teaching in this language.”