Emmanuel Macron put all his weight in the balance on Friday to try to advance discussions on the institutional future of Corsica, which has been stalled for six months, by reiterating his desire to include possible developments in his constitutional reform project. .
When the discussions resumed, stopped for six months, the Head of State invited himself to the Ministry of the Interior, a stone’s throw from the Elysée. A way of telling the Corsican elected officials gathered in Place Beauvau around Gérald Darmanin that he is listening to them and considers this file to be important. A “historic” arrival, welcomed the minister, believing that “the horizon has never been so clear”.
Basically, nothing new. Emmanuel Macron’s position has not changed one iota for a year. He repeated what he had said on March 17, 2022, namely that he had “no taboo”, including on autonomy, nor a “predetermined solution”, as one of his colleagues explained on Friday. advisers.
He also reiterated that he was ready to include any changes in his constitutional reform project, with this date specification: “after this summer”.
It is up to the elected officials and the Ministry of the Interior to present him with “a proposal” that can be part of this project. It is planned, according to the Elysée, that Emmanuel Macron will meet the Minister of the Interior and the elected officials again “before the summer” to “take stock of the proposals”. “Before July 14”, it is “quite possible”, estimated Mr. Darmanin
In addition, the red lines set by the president a year ago remain unchanged: maintaining Corsica in the Republic and refusing to create two categories of citizens.
But the nationalists, starting with Gilles Simeoni, the autonomist president of the Corsican executive, plead for a Corsican resident status and demand that the Corsican language be included in the Constitution.
So much so that it is difficult to imagine how each other will manage to overcome these two obstacles.
For ages, discussions between the various governments of the right and left and the Corsican elected officials have stumbled on these points.
Nevertheless, Emmanuel Macron’s entourage was optimistic, insisting on the “very strong dimension of the symbol” of his surprise participation in this meeting. And assuring that what he described as “an important announcement” from the president had been “very well received by the participants”.
Mr. Simeoni was pleased that the president had “heard the need for recognition of a language, a history, a culture”. “We add, a people,” he said.
The fact remains that the draft constitutional reform desired by the Head of State comes up against, whatever its content, the fact that he does not currently have a majority of 3/5ths (National Assembly and Senate combined) to reform the Constitution.
However, according to Gérald Darmanin, there is “a risk” that the negotiations will lead to “a reform” if there is “no constitutional change”.
In a very elliptical way, Emmanuel Macron evoked an institutional scheme for Corsica which “could be inspired by many Mediterranean models” in terms of decentralization or differentiation. This excludes a status of autonomy in the manner of Polynesia or New Caledonia.
“We reaffirmed our objectives: autonomy status for the Corsican people and global political solution,” Simeoni tweeted after the meeting.
The cycle of discussions initiated by Mr. Darmanin was launched in July 2022 after the murder in prison of Yvan Colonna by one of his fellow prisoners.
Sentenced to life imprisonment, Yvan Colonna was one of the members of the commando responsible for the assassination of prefect Claude Erignac in 1998 in Ajaccio.
The discussions were to be spread over a year with a meeting in Paris every six weeks.
If a first meeting took place in mid-September, the negotiations had come to a halt after a new refusal of justice to grant semi-freedom to Alain Ferrandi and Pierre Alessandri, the last two members of the commando still in prison, but released since 2017.
In October and December, Mr. Darmanin had to postpone a trip to the island twice, because of the strong tensions around the question of prisoners.
On January 31, justice finally pronounced a semi-freedom measure for Pierre Alessandri and it did the same on Thursday for Alain Ferrandi. Thus paving the way for a resumption of discussions.
02/24/2023 20:11:30 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP