This is another hot topic for the executive. The government and island elected officials reached agreement, on the night of Monday to Tuesday March 12, on a draft “constitutional writing” providing for “the recognition of a status of autonomy” of the island “within of the Republic”, announced Gérald Darmanin.
First victory: this draft agreement, which obtained a “broad consensus” among elected officials, will now be sent to the Corsican Assembly for a vote, the Minister of the Interior told the press, at the end of a nearly five-hour meeting at the ministry. The text is the result of a subtle balance. It “respects both the red lines set by the President of the Republic and myself, and also the time allocated” by Emmanuel Macron, a six-month period supposed to end at the end of March and lead to an agreement , argued the minister.
Among the forces present: the autonomist Gilles Simeoni, president of the executive council of Corsica, and Laurent Marcangeli, deputy of Corse-du-Sud and president of the Horizons group in the National Assembly, found unanimous agreement on the first paragraph of this “writing”.
Concretely, what did they agree on? Government and elected officials are in tune with the fact that “laws and regulations can be subject to adaptation” on the island, added the minister. In this sense, an organic law, which will complete the constitutional writing, “will say in which areas Corsica will be able to set normative rules, whether legislative or regulatory”, detailed Gérald Darmanin.
“A decisive step”
Gilles Simeoni considered that a “decisive step” had been taken at the end of this meeting, welcoming that “the principle of a power of a legislative nature, subject to control by the Constitutional Council, is today clearly established “. “The extent and modalities of exercise of this legislative power […] will fall under the organic law […]. I would say that this evening we are in the semi-final, the semi-final and the final remain to be won,” he announced to the press. “I remain determined to think that the granting of legislative power is a problem, but I am not going to take on the role of the executioner of the process”, added the leader of the local opposition to the separatists in the Corsican Assembly, Jean-Martin Mondoloni, leaving doubt about his support for the text in the local room.
Gérald Darmanin assured that this text in no way provided for there to be “two categories of citizens” in Corsica. “There is no concept of people [corse] but of cultural community”, he explained, saying he also ruled out any “resident status” on the island. “We have moved towards autonomy” and “there is no separation from Corsica with the Republic”, since we “do not mention the people, nor the status of resident, nor the co-officiality of the language”, he summarized. The constitutional writing also provides that voters registered on the electoral lists of Corsica be consulted on this project.
After consulting the Corsican Assembly, “the President of the Republic will initiate constitutional reform, whenever he wishes”, continued the minister, recalling that the text must be voted on by both chambers of Parliament in the same terms, then adopted by Congress by a three-fifths majority.