the island Assembly adopts the constitutional project

At the end of his discussions on autonomy with the elected officials of the island of beauty, Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, called on Gilles Simeoni, president of the executive council of Corsica, to “seek a broad consensus” within its territorial assembly: it’s done. On Wednesday evening, the constitutional text providing for “a status of autonomy” for Corsica “within the Republic” was adopted by a large majority: 62 votes for and one against. Unsurprisingly, the text adopted at the end of discussions with the government as part of the “Beauvau process” can therefore continue its legislative path.

As a reminder, paragraph 1 of the text provides for “the recognition (in the Constitution) of a status of autonomy for Corsica within the Republic which takes into account its own interests linked to its Mediterranean insularity, to its historical community , linguistic, cultural having developed a singular link to its land. In addition, the elected officials meeting in Ajaccio largely voted in favor of validating this text by a popular consultation of Corsican voters, without a specific date.

The only point of contention among the different island political parties: the island's legislative autonomy. Indeed, the co-president of the right-wing group Un soffiu novu – A new breath for Corsica, Jean-Martin Mondoloni, remains opposed to the granting of local normative power which could concern “social security, pensions, National Education”. “I do not want these skills to be managed by the Corsican Assembly, I do not want to go that far,” he declared. As a result, 13 elected officials out of 63 voters opposed the Corsican Assembly being able to produce its own laws.

The distrust of Parliament

If this first Corsican step is a success and constitutes “a tremendous message of hope” according to Gilles Simeoni, the obstacles to overcome before possible inclusion of the text in the Constitution are numerous. On the continent, Parliament is far from being favorable to this autonomous status – particularly on the legislative aspect of the text. Thus, the right, with a majority in the Senate, is hostile to this constitutional reform. Bruno Retailleau, the president of the Les Républicains group in the Senate, insists that “the recognition of a historical, cultural, linguistic community linked to a land (…) would be the constitutionalization of communitarianism” and that “the Constitution only recognizes a only community: it is the national community.

However, to be validated, this text requires to be voted on identically by the National Assembly and the Upper House before the government can bring together all the deputies and senators in Congress, in Versailles. This writing will then have to obtain a three-fifths majority to be included in the Constitution. A legislative path similar to the recent constitutionalization of abortion, but which in the current state of political forces in Parliament, constitutes a very uncertain scenario.