Europe1 .fr with AFP/Photo credits: BENOIT DURAND / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 11:38 a.m., February 16, 2024
During his visit to Corsica last September, Emmanuel Macron gave island political groups six months to reach an "agreement" with the government leading to a "constitutional and organic text" which would give Corsica "autonomy in the Republic ".
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin invited Corsican elected officials to dinner on February 26 in Paris in order to submit to them a draft constitutional text allowing the “autonomy” proposed by Emmanuel Macron for the island, he announced. Friday on the daily
Corse-Matin
. On September 28, 2023, during his visit to Corsica, the President of the Republic gave six months to island political groups, from separatists to the right, to reach an "agreement" with the government leading to a "constitutional and organic text " which would give Corsica "autonomy in the Republic".
But Corsican elected officials are struggling so far to agree on a common copy, according to a source close to the matter. “To reform the Constitution, you need constitutional writing, I did not have it” from Corsican elected officials, the minister regretted Friday in this interview with the regional daily, without hiding his “legitimate and calm annoyance”.
He therefore invited "on February 26 in Paris" Gilles Simeoni, autonomist president of the executive council of Corsica, "as well as the main leaders of Corsican political families" to "submit to them a draft which will be amendable" of the constitutional text.
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On February 26, "we will take the time, including if we have to spend the night there", adds Gérald Darmanin, believing that the outstretched hand of the State is "revolutionary". The minister, who will then return to Corsica "in mid-March", calls on Gilles Simeoni to "agree with his right-wing opposition to have a chance at the Congress in Versailles", necessary for the approval of the text.
“Clear rules”
To succeed in a constitutional reform of the status of the island, the bill must be voted on by the National Assembly then the Senate in the same terms before validation by three-fifths of Congress.
Gérald Darmanin underlines that if there was no agreement between Corsican elected officials, “it would not be a failure neither for (him) nor for Emmanuel Macron”. Concerning the content of his draft constitutional text, the minister stressed that it would specify that "Corsica is a singular, insular, linguistic, cultural community", "that it is necessary to foresee the possibility (...) that the language Corsica is recognized at its fair value", that there is a question on the possible granting to the Corsican Assembly of a "normative capacity" and a subject "around land" with possibly a "residence status" .
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Recognizing that "there are mafias in Corsica, several small octopuses concentrated around drugs", Gérald Darmanin believes that "clear rules" and control of possible autonomy were needed to avoid "drifts".