Cancellation of Paris Meeting on Corsican Autonomy: Negotiation Track in Deadlock and Anticipation of Government Steps

The French Ministry of Decentralization announced the cancellation of the strategic committee meeting on the autonomy of the island of Corsica, which was scheduled to be held on Thursday, November 12, in the capital, Paris, following the withdrawal and boycott by the island's nationalist deputies, preventing the required quorum for the talks.

A statement issued by Minister Françoise Gatel reported that the government took note of the absence of a segment of Corsican elected officials, expressing regret while at the same time affirming its "deep commitment to the text of the constitutional bill and its readiness to facilitate the continuation of the legislative process in a spirit of consensus and responsibility."

Sharp Divergences Over the Future of the Process

For his part, the leader of the "Un soffiu novu" group in the Corsican Regional Assembly, Jean-Martin Mondoloni, who was among the few willing to attend the meeting, called for adopting clear language, pointing out that the options have narrowed to either "declaring the end of this experiment and looking to the future, or pursuing a very narrow negotiation path based on a point of balance around what has been proposed over the past three years," maintaining the option of activating the current status regarding the adaptation of laws.

In contrast, the deputy for Southern Corsica's first constituency and leader of the "Horizons" group in the National Assembly, Laurent Marcangeli, criticized what he considered "holding the political process hostage by imposing mutual conditions." He explained that the intransigence comes from the Senate, led by the chair of the Law Commission, Muriel Jourda, as well as from the demands of the three nationalist groups in Corsica, calling for a genuine transfer of legislative power within a framework of compromise and serious negotiation.

Anticipated Moves and a Race Against Time

Minister Françoise Gatel intends to hold a meeting next week bringing together the group leaders in the Senate and the National Assembly, to be followed by a dialogue the government seeks to conduct with Corsican elected officials and parliamentarians from both chambers to define the terms of a political agreement that can be submitted to Parliament.

This approach aligns with what was demanded by Gilles Simeoni, Mayor of Bastia and Executive Councillor in charge of the autonomy file, who stressed the necessity of holding a direct meeting to clarify the objectives of the text and the political agreement based on fundamental principles, including legislative power, resident status, and official bilingualism, to determine whether there is an actual supporting majority in the Senate, the National Assembly, and the Congress.

The negotiations enter their decisive phase as the parliamentary recess approaches in late February in preparation for the presidential elections, turning the four-and-a-half-year journey into a final race to salvage the island's autonomy project.