Corsican Autonomy Bill: Executive Remains Unclear

The last Council of Ministers meeting before the summer break was particularly long: three hours of conversations before the end. A large part of it was devoted to Corsica .

The constitutional reform project, initiated by Gérald Darmanin in 2022 and presented this Wednesday, plans to recognize the island's autonomous status within the Republic, enshrined in the French Constitution.

François Rebsamen, Minister of Regional Planning, who opened the post-Council of Ministers press conference on Wednesday, July 30, assured that "the consecration of this autonomy does not conflict with any of the great principles on which the Republic is founded."

However, he ignored certain recommendations from the Council of State, France's highest administrative court. The latter, upon reviewing the text negotiated by Gérald Darmanin with Corsican elected officials when he was still Minister of the Interior in March 2024, had requested significant changes. In particular, the replacement of the notion of Corsican "community" with that of "population," and the removal of the phrase "with a unique connection to its land."

François Rebsamen, for whom Corsica is a "country ," maintains the retention of these terms while recalling that the decision to amend or not the original text will be made in Parliament at the start of the new school year. He plans a presentation to the Senate around October 17.

Pierre Ouzoulias, a Communist senator , questions the executive's sincerity regarding this bill. In his view, ignoring the recommendations of the Council of State amounts to knowingly having Parliament examine a text that is potentially contrary to constitutional law.

"I think the government will leave it to others, in this case the Senate, to explain how the system it is presenting is unconstitutional ," he believes. The man who is also vice-president of the Upper House believes that "talking about 'community' or 'a special connection to the land' is an affirmation of separation," which would therefore be contrary to the principle of unity and indivisibility of the Republic.

Beyond the terms used, for constitutionalist Benjamin Morel this text "is absolutely incompatible with the principles of the Republic, the rule of law and membership of the EU. This government will be the first to bring such values before the Chambers since 1945. "

When the political season begins, parliamentarians will inherit the task of arbitrating a vague text that does not fully resolve the question of Corsica's future status. "Either the Corsican government goes all the way and demands independence, and in those cases, we can discuss it like New Caledonia or French Polynesia, or it remains within the framework of the French Constitution ," the senator fumes.

This autonomy would allow Corsica to assume legislative power over its territory. But the text, not yet published, remains unclear regarding the hierarchy between Corsican law and French law and the scope of regulatory authority.

For political scientist André Fazi, who is in favor of autonomy, "as things stand, the national political power, Parliament, could refuse any request for regulatory adaptations from the Corsican Assembly," he explained to RCF. Pierre Ouzoulias fears that the constitutional bill, as presented by the government, will result in a "pure legal imbroglio " between the Corsican Assembly and the French Parliament.

The fiscal power that would also be granted to Corsica is not a matter of consensus either. "It is not a different fiscal status that will allow the future autonomous community to function better, " qualifies the first secretary of the PCF in Corsica, Michel Stefani. "Because, in return, it would have the obligation to balance its budget with its own revenues, which would be catastrophic when we know that Corsica is one of the most expensive regions . "

He thus denounces the fact that the texts and debates on autonomy, since 2022, systematically ignore the social question: "For forty years, each decade has had its status without this resulting in an improvement in the social situation, on the contrary."

Many gray areas therefore remain in this text, which, in order to be adopted, must be voted on in the same terms in the Senate and the National Assembly, before being passed in Congress, by a three-fifths majority. The Corsicans could also vote in a referendum, the government has suggested.