The French president, Emmanuel Macron, proposed this Thursday to give a autonomy for the island of Corsicaso that I can assume certain skills that Paris now has, and the own story and the particularity of the island within the Constitution.
This autonomy, “which must be fully Corsican” (without influence from other territories) will not be done “without the State or against the French State,” Macron said in a speech before the Corsican assembly, of nationalist majority. “The status quo would be a failure for everyone,” he said.
Macron has recognized the need to promote the Corsican language so that it has “more space”, but will not be recognized as a co-official language.
The goal of this movement is to “fully anchor Corsica in the Republic.” Relations between the island and the State have been conflictive. Tensions with Paris grew after the death in prison in March 2022 of the militant Yvan Colonna, a symbol for nationalists, sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1998 murder of prefect Claude Érignac. His death unleashed a wave of unrest.
“I am in favor of going through a new stage” in relations between the island and Paris, said the president, who did point out the need to adapt some laws to the island territory.