Due to current events overwhelmed by the Ukrainian crisis, the opposition and rivals of Emmanuel Macron in the race for the Elysée have been slow to bounce back from the Corsican situation, but criticism is beginning to abound.

"We don't let a situation rot for a week," says Anne Hidalgo.

LFI deputy Eric Coquerel warns him against false promises about the "unprecedented cycle of discussions" promised by Gérald Darmanin: "four weeks from a first round, it can only be firm commitments, otherwise it is demagoguery," said the rebellious.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who inherited the "Corsica" dossier after the departure of Jacqueline Gourault from the government, is due to go to the island on Wednesday for a two-day visit.

His mission?

Restore public order but also renew the dialogue with local elected officials, against the backdrop of the evolution of the institutional status of Corsica.

An explosive subject.

"Spark Lit"

Since the violent attack by a radicalized co-detainee on March 2 of Yvan Colonna, sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of the prefect Erignac in 1998 and imprisoned in the prison of Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône), the violent demonstrations followed one another, culminating in that of Sunday in Bastia, leaving 67 injured, including 44 members of the police.

For political scientist Jérôme Fourquet, the subject can however hardly claim a prominent place in the presidential campaign, given the international context.

"If the news continues to be polarized on Ukraine, the Corsicans will find it difficult to break the sound barrier, even with this degree of mobilization", he comments to AFP.

To appease the protests, Prime Minister Jean Castex already on Friday lifted the status of "particularly reported detainee" (DPS) of Alain Ferrandi and Pierre Alessandri, two other members of the "Erignac commando" detained on the continent.

"Once the spark is lit, it may be difficult to extinguish it", warns François Kraus, director of the political pole at Ifop.

According to him, the situation could escalate if "the government does not also give in on the institutional side".

For candidate LR Valérie Pécresse, the government "played for time on the return of Corsican prisoners".

Marine Le Pen in favor of the rapprochement of detainees in Corsica, sent the tragedy that occurred in the prison of Arles and its consequences on the back of the executive by denouncing the conditions of detention "absolutely incredible, of nonchalance, of laxity" of 'Yvan Colonna and "the responsibility of the Minister of Justice Eric Dupont-Moretti" in the violence.

The RN candidate plans to go to the Island of Beauty by the end of March.

More generally, Eric Zemmour believes that Corsican nationalism is "the symptom of a France that is no longer up to expectations", pointing once again as the cause "mass immigration".

Beyond the old nationalist claims, this crisis is also "identity" and testifies to a "very strong sensitivity of the Corsicans to the question of immigration", estimates Jérôme Fourquet.

According to François Kraus, the current anger could generate "protest votes" in the April election, in favor of ruralist candidates like Jean Lassalle, or of the extreme right, radical on the question of immigration.

The Corsican question, which concerns more than 300,000 islanders, will however have a "limited" weight in this presidential election, nuance Mr. Kraus.

In 2017, the Corsicans placed Marine Le Pen in the lead in the first round, before choosing Emmanuel Macron at 51.48% in the second round of the presidential election.

© 2022 AFP