In a historic step, France could grant Corsica autonomy

According to the confession of two collaborators, the best-known figure of lane separatists shot Prefect Claude Er Ignac, delegated by the state, on the streets in Ajaccio in 1998. After four years on the run, the Minister was found. on a sheep farm in the “Maquis” of Corsica (snow place) and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

In early March, he reportedly made disparaging comments about the religion of a fellow prisoner who is serving a nine-year sentence for jihadist activities in Afghanistan. The 36-year-old from Cameroon attacked him outside the cell at a brutally vulnerable moment before trying to kill him. Colonna, who married while in prison and ever since had a second child, has been struggling with death.

Serious Troubles

The attack immediately triggered protests in Korsica, with several thousand participants. Serious riots followed. Public buildings are also involved in flames in the city of Bastia. On a single night, over 70 people, including 44 police officers, were injured, some in serious condition. A police reinforcement called had to be returned from sea to island after nationalist doctors blocked the ferry port.

The religious-political component of the arrest attack likely played only a marginal role in the riots, though tensions between local lanes and Muslim migrants have been constantly raised in Korsica for years. The demonstrators' anger was mainly directed against the French state. Due to his refusal to transfer Colonna to a Korsica prison for years, he holds a sweeping “responsibility” for the crime, Gilles Simeon from the nationalist party Femu a Corsica explained.

However, this decision has only partially calmed the situation. Interior Minister Gérad Darman, therefore, is going one step further: ahead of his visit to the island on Wednesday, he declared the state leadership was “ready to go to autonomy”. He himself seeks to launch an institutional “dialog” with Simeon. For example, French Polynesia in the South Pacific already has a special statute, the minister said, adding: “This opens up the possibility”.

Should Macro win?

Simeon welcomed Darman's announcement, although with some scepticism he said: “We have not yet won”. Darman promised talks on autonomy in President Emmanuel Macron's second term. His victory in the election is quite possible, but not guaranteed. The reference to the upcoming mandate may even be understood as a nod against nationalists to appeal to Macroni. However, the separatist camp is also sceptical because Darman mentioned only Polynesia, not New Caledonia. This tropical archipelag in eastern Australia has real autonomy with its own parliament and budgetary powers. Polynesia, on the other hand, remains completely dependent on Paris.

Darman's announcement is at least a testimony to a re-evaluation of the French central government, which otherwise likes to unite everything. Using the word autonomy for the first time in terms of Corsica, it is breaking a “tabu”, Parisian media comment. A autonomous solution would certainly serve all sides. Corsicans would be forced to take their fate into their own hands. Today they also live mainly from French state grants, which otherwise is so hated. However, Corsica still has a long way to go before an economic power is achieved, as autonomy have achieved in Catalonia or at Bask country autonomy or not.