Diversification of the economy, financial speculation, town planning or even housing will be on the agenda. The question of autonomy can be addressed “without taboos”, argued Gérald Darmanin.
Le Monde with AFP
Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior and Overseas, gave, Thursday July 21, the kickoff of a cycle of eight meetings on the future, including institutional, of Corsica, with A delegation of 20 elected officials from the island who came to Paris. This first meeting of the Strategic Committee on the future of Corsica, set up after the murder in prison of the Corsican independence and assassin of the prefect Erignac Yvan Colonna, set a calendar and a work program. “We agreed to see each other for a whole day, every six weeks” for a “cycle of one year consultations,” the Minister told the press after discussions.
“The bases of this common work and this historical process are today clearly laid, the continuation remains to be written. There is a firm will to be at the rendezvous of history, to succeed This process and to build a global political solution, “commented, for his part, the president of the Corsican Executive Council, Gilles Simeoni.
The question of questionable autonomy
m. Darmanin argued that there would be “no taboo” during these consultations, including on an institutional development towards an autonomy status, as he was engaged there last March, when he came in the ‘Island.
The question of “full and whole autonomy, real autonomy, will be fully integrated into the field of discussion,” said Simeoni. However, the Minister of the Interior insisted on two red lines, namely that “Corsica remains in the Republic” and that “there are not two types of citizens” on the island of beauty. He also explained that for each meeting theme would be “asked the institutional question”.
m. Simeoni considers that “the institutional question cannot be distinguished from economic, social and cultural issues. The statutes of autonomy that we call for our wishes are, in our opinion, the most effective response to treat the ‘Set of Corsican issues “.
First meeting in September 2>
The next meeting will take place “September 16” and will be devoted to the “economic and social model” of the island and the way of “diversifying the Corsican economy”. The second will be devoted to “financial speculation, town planning and housing” and the third, scheduled “before the end of 2022”, to “the Corsican language and culture”, said the Minister of the Interior.
For each theme, it is planned to list the various statutes in force in neighboring countries and to evoke the possible “developments” to be made to the status of Corsica. Gérald Darmanin argued that there had been a “convergence on this agenda and these themes” but conceded “divergences” among elected officials.
Asked about autonomy, the minister warned elected officials. “He must, he said, weighing the pros and cons, signing the consequences of this autonomy, (…) because it also means generating difficult responsibilities such as social security, unemployment insurance”. “Do the Corsicans want it?” He said.