The President of the Executive Council of Corsica, Gilles Simeoni, led the vote on the autonomy status of the island at the Regional Assembly of Corsica in Ajaccio on March 27, 2024. The constitutional text providing for “autonomy” for Corsica “within the Republic” was adopted by a large majority, with thirteen out of sixty-three members voting against granting local normative power. The text, consisting of six paragraphs, was voted on in three parts, covering the Corsican community, granting normative power to island elected officials, and the idea of submitting the text to Corsican voters through a referendum. A fourth vote confirmed this consultation process by the sixty-three members of the Corsican Assembly.
This text, desired by regions such as Guyane, Alsace, the Basque Country, and Brittany, was agreed upon in March in Paris by the Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, and eight Corsican elected officials representing various political tendencies on the island. Sixty-two members voted in favor of the first paragraph recognizing the autonomy status of Corsica within the Republic, taking into account its unique characteristics related to its Mediterranean insularity, historical, linguistic, and cultural community with a special connection to its land. Only one independentist elected official voted against. The same vote was achieved for the sixth paragraph, which provides for a validation of the text by Corsican voters through a referendum.
Regarding the four paragraphs concerning the normative power that could be granted to island elected officials, forty-nine members voted in favor, thirteen against, and one abstained. In the final vote, confirming that “the text thus adopted will be transmitted to parliament,” sixty-two members voted in favor and one against. Gérald Darmanin had urged Gilles Simeoni to seek a broad consensus within the Territorial Assembly, beyond the Corsican autonomist and nationalist factions. However, this proposal is not yet widely supported in Paris.
While President Macron views this Corsican step positively, the national Parliament remains a hurdle, as the right-wing majority in the Senate is opposed to this constitutional reform. The reform must be approved in the same form by both the National Assembly and the Senate before being presented to a joint session where a three-fifths majority is required. The date of the referendum for Corsicans on this text has not been determined yet. Discussions on autonomy began after weeks of violence on the island in 2022 following the death of the independentist activist Yvan Colonna, who was attacked in prison while serving a life sentence for the 1998 assassination of Corsican Prefect Claude Erignac. It remains to be seen if this proposal will gain wider support and be successfully integrated into the French Constitution.
