CORSICA. Will Corsica become autonomous? The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, has paved the way for the emancipation of the Island of Beauty. What form could it take? Response elements.
“We are ready to go as far as autonomy.” Gérald Darmanin’s little phrase is not insignificant. On Wednesday March 16, 2022, the Minister of the Interior announced to Corsica Morning that the government was going to launch an “unprecedented discussion around the institutional question” aimed at granting a certain number of powers to the island community. An announcement made while the Island of Beauty is under tension, plagued by clashes between residents and the police since the attack in prison on nationalist activist Yvan Colonna, convicted in the case of the assassination of prefect Claude Erignac, still between life and death after having suffered the wrath, at the penitentiary center of Arles, of an inmate imprisoned for radicalization.
What skills for Corsica if it becomes autonomous?
Requested for a long time by the nationalists, always refused by the various governments, the autonomy of Corsica would therefore be considered by the Elysée. The framework remains to be defined. “The question is to know what this autonomy is. We have to discuss it,” said Gérald Darmanin. According to Le Figaro, the assembly of Corsica could see itself allotting economic, social competences as well as as regards health, Paris keeping the hand on the sovereign (police, justice, army). The tenant of Place Beauvau, however, did not specify a possible timetable for the implementation hoped for, however rejecting from the outset the possibility that autonomy will be enacted before the first round of the presidential election.
Autonomy is therefore quite possible for Corsica. Especially since other French territories already have this status, such as French Polynesia. The model envisaged for the Isle of Beauty would be modeled on that of the Pacific archipelago, which has all the skills except the sovereign. “It can be autonomy within today’s constitution. Polynesia has a status that allows it to be totally in the Republic and to have a particular specificity: it is she who manages everything which is economic and social”, indicated Gérald Darmanin on BFMTV / RMC on Wednesday March 16.
Through this announcement, Emmanuel Macron and the government have several aims: first that of playing the card of appeasement in the street, while a wind of revolt is blowing in Corsica. But beyond a return to calm, the President of the Republic also puts on his candidate’s cap and wants to seduce a population which had turned to Marine Le Pen (27%) and François Fillon (25%) in the first round. in 2017, choosing the Head of State by a short margin in the second round (51%). A little over three weeks before the first round, it is therefore a question for Emmanuel Macron of incubating an electorate which could be decisive, he who is already seeking the support of the nationalists by having lifted the status of detainee particularly signaled by Alain Ferrandi and Pierre Alessandri, accomplices of Yvan Colonna, and envisaged their transfer to the prison of Borgo, in Corsica.