“We take note of the minister’s remarks, it is difficult to judge without hindsight”, indicates Michel Castellani, deputy for Freedoms and Territories of the 1st district of Haute Corse. In an interview published on Corse Matin, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the French government said it was ready to consider some form of autonomy for Corsica. It is the first time that a representative of the French government opens the door to this long-standing claim of Corsican nationalists.
This declaration takes place in the context of the violence on the island for two weeks, after the attack on Yvan Colonna in the prison of Arles. Gérald Darmanin is going to Corsica for two days to meet local elected officials and law enforcement. The minister acknowledged the state’s share of responsibility in the attack on Yvan Colonna last March, and he promises to shed full light on the facts: “This is what we are asking for, and it is completely logical. We will see what the director of the penitentiary in France will say to the National Assembly”, added Corsican MP Michel Castellani.
franceinfo: What was your first reaction to this long interview with Gérald Darmanin with our colleagues from Corse Matin?
Michael Castellani: We take note of the minister’s remarks, it is difficult to judge without hindsight. We will see later what will happen during these discussions. It is an old claim that we had to be able to discuss with the government, and regrettable that it was necessary to wait for the drama of the prison of Arles to arrive there. Finally, now we have to move forward and respond as best as possible to the problems, which are real, of Corsica. Economic, social, cultural problems. It is never easy to deal with these kinds of questions. When we talk about autonomy, it is the duty to adapt, that is to say to adapt the laws and regulations as best as possible to local realities. It is the management of skills, apart from those that are sovereign. And we are going to try all together – at least I hope, because all of this is conditioned by the re-election of Emmanuel Macron if I understood correctly – to look at the problems a little face to face, to put everything on the table and to see how we can move forward.
Gérald Darmanin indicates that the prerequisite for any discussion is a return to calm in Corsica: do you approve of these remarks?
He is in his role, I would not see a Minister of the Interior saying anything else. There are things that are deeply degraded in Corsica, I hope everyone understands that these discussions have become a priority. Now the discussion is open – again if I understood correctly – to all the forces of Corsica, so there is no need for further escalation. A priori these discussions could be likely to reduce tensions, that’s all I can say. Now it’s not me who commands the demonstrators obviously. It was a central demand, that of opening negotiations or at least discussion, now we will see what is behind it. In any case, the minister’s tone for the moment suggests a positive development, that’s all we can say at this time.
What form do you think Corsica’s autonomy should take?
This is a complex question, which is difficult to deal with ex abrupto. It is not in the French tradition, which is in a Nation-State structure, it is on the other hand much more frequent in the Mediterranean islands. We will have to adapt things, move forward. First, it will be quite difficult to obtain insofar as it will require constitutional reform, which is never easy to obtain. So all that is conditioned by fairly long discussions which will take place, we hope, after the presidential and legislative elections.
Did these words of the minister surprise you? 26 days before the first round of the presidential election, some candidates denounce an electoral measure: what do you think?
Yes and no. This is not the language they have had so far in the National Assembly, since they had been solicited for years, both in private contact and in the hemicycle. Now, we must take into account the fact that the pressure cooker seriously exploded in Corsica and that, the government must take this into account. We can’t ignore what happened in Bastia the other night. When you are in an election period, whether you go one way or the other, you will be attacked because these are the rules of the game. It is perhaps a weakness of the democratic game, it is regrettable but it is so. If the government had not flinched, we would have blamed it. If he moves, he is also blamed for it.