Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin will travel to Corsica “at the beginning of February” to “take stock of progress” regarding discussions on the evolution of the status of the island towards “autonomy in the Republic”, said Wednesday Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
On September 28, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron gave Corsican political groups, from independence to the right, six months to reach an “agreement” with the government leading to a “constitutional and organic text” which would give Corsica “autonomy in the Republic”.
“The Minister of the Interior will go to Corsica at the beginning of February to take stock of the progress and collect the contribution of all the stakeholders,” declared Mr. Attal during questions to the government in the National Assembly.
A desire for recognition of a historic community
“We will continue the work aimed at making the mention of Corsica appear in the Constitution, to affirm, within a specific article, the recognition of a historical, linguistic and cultural island community,” promised the Prime Minister .
“There are then the new responsibilities which will be given to the community of Corsica by learning lessons from the inadequacies of the current status. Concretely, it is a question of being able to adapt the rules and even the laws”, he pledged.
“Finally, we must move forward together around many other challenges: creating a public education service that promotes bilingualism (…), responding to the real estate challenge on the island, creating a metropolis for Ajaccio, strengthening the Chamber of Territories, review the voting method for territorial elections…”, he added. “All these avenues are discussed by all the island political groups. They must be explored further in a logic of consensus,” he underlined.