Corsican Autonomy Text Causes Divisions Within Government: François Rebsamen Praises "Compromise," Bruno Retailleau Expresses "Disagreement"

The draft law on constitutional revision on Corsican autonomy is a "compromise text" and "can succeed" , assured the Minister of Regional Planning, François Rebsamen, at the end of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, July 30.

He referred back to Parliament the debates on possible changes to the text recommended by the Council of State, while the senatorial right requested that this opinion be incorporated into the text. The advisory opinion of the Council of State recommended in particular replacing the notion of Corsican "community" with that of "singular link [of this community] to its land" and refused autonomous legislative power to the Collectivité de Corse.

Despite the fact that the government chose not to follow any of these recommendations, Mr. Rebsamen assured that he had not "ignored" them. The minister assured that this advice declares that "the consecration of this autonomy does not conflict with any of the great principles on which the Republic is founded" .

Mr. Rebsamen declared his support for the term Corsican "community" and asserted that "there was no debate" during the Council of Ministers on the "legislative power" of the Collectivity of Corsica. The opinion of the Council of State, however, sowed confusion within the "common base," since the president (Les Républicains) of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, wrote to the Prime Minister to request that the government incorporate all of the institution's recommendations into the text.

The Minister of the Interior and president of the Republicans, Bruno Retailleau, also expressed his "disagreement" with this text on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers, his entourage informed Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"I would like, in the interests of transparency, but also of consistency with what I believe - and have always believed - to express my disagreement with this text on Corsica, in its original version," he said, "regretting" that "the modifications suggested by the Council of State" had not been retained, according to him "beneficial." "I fear that this bill will ultimately only cause frustrations," concluded Mr. Retailleau, in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

The constitutional revision project aimed at granting the island "autonomy within the Republic" was launched in 2022 by Gérald Darmanin, then Minister of the Interior, at the request of Emmanuel Macron, to put an end to the violence on the island caused by the death in prison of independence activist Yvan Colonna.