Macron vows to keep Corsica in France’s ‘Republican fold’
AJACCIO, France: President Emmanuel Macron told nationalists on the island of Corsica during a visit that he would try to accommodate their demands for more autonomy while keeping them in France’s ‘Republican fold’.
Macron’s two-day visit to Corsica is being closely watched on the mainland, where some fear that giving the Mediterranean island too much autonomy could fuel a breakaway bid in the future.
The nationalists, who cemented their control of Corsica’s regional assembly in December elections, have denied any plans to try to take the territory of 330,000 people out of France – at least for the time being.
Macron began his visit with a tribute to Claude Erignac, the state’s top representative on the island who was assassinated 20 years ago in an attack that shocked the country.
Addressing a ceremony in the city of Ajaccio, Macron said Corsica had been ‘sullied’ by the killing, over which nationalist Yvan Colonna is serving a life sentence, and that there would be ‘no forgetting and no amnesty’.
He stressed that Corsica, which is economically dependent on the mainland, was part of the ‘unwavering’ French Republic.
He promised, however, to try to give it “the future it aspires to, without giving into demands that would take it out of the Republican fold.”
Nationalists have a string of demands, including making Corsican an official language and granting amnesty to Corsicans jailed for pro-independence violence.
A longtime hotbed of antiFrench militancy, the mountainous island has enjoyed a measure of stability since 2014 when the separatist National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC) called a ceasefire. — AFP