General (2S) Michel Franceschi is a native and resident of Corsica. He notably published
Corsica: the voice of the silent majority
(2001, Pygmalion).
To discover
PODCAST - Listen to the club Le Club Le Figaro Idées with Eugénie Bastié
The autonomy of Corsica is on the hectic agenda of the government, without first ensuring the anointing of the island community which this institutional change imposes.
This project is thus akin to a political privatization of Corsica, for the benefit of particular interests on the lookout.
In this regard, two island associations, reinforced by the judicial authorities, had the courage to raise the specter of an island mafia threatening local democracy.
No, Corsica has no intention of becoming a banana republic!
The Corsican question is in fact a national cause because all regions today aspire to varying degrees to exercise broader local responsibilities.
The overall solution to the problem lies in an essential aggiornamento of the administrative architecture of the country, based on a full application of the principle of subsidiarity.
Also readMichel Vergé-Franceschi: “We have instilled in young Corsicans a hatred of France”
A major project with a priority vocation, this vigorous relaunch of the decentralization of the country will allow the flourishing of regional particularisms without encroachment on sovereign power, nor endangering the vital unity of France, which the prospect of decentralization at the same time would ruin. map.
Aren't other regions already knocking on the door?
No, France is not intended to become a Spanish inn!
The new regional powers thus granted would be comparable to those of the current status of Corsica, thus putting the country back on the path to reestablishing battered constitutional unity.
Inhabitants of the poorest region of France, the Islanders themselves cut the branch on which they are sitting.
Michael Franceschi
Fundamentally, the island originality of Corsica is only a geographical fact without predetermination of its political status which only depends on the free choice of its population.
Any tempting comparison with other Mediterranean islands is historically inadmissible.
Corsica became fully French by decree of the Constituent Assembly of November 30, 1789, adopted unanimously and enthusiastically at the request of Corsican deputies.
This more than two-hundred-year-old Frenchness of the island received sublime confirmation with the Bastia Oath of 1939, taken by the Corsicans in response to Mussolini's annexationist ambitions.
We can still read it on a marble plaque on Boulevard Paoli in Bastia:
“Facing the world, with all our soul, on our glories, on our tombs, on our cradles, we swear to live and die French”
.
Full French of course!
Also, before considering any institutional change, it is important to ensure the current validity of the Bastia oath through direct consultation with today's island community, to face its responsibilities and not a fait accompli.
Read alsoCorsica: creation of an “identity” nationalist party
Let's not avoid the scribble side of autonomy.
The right to difference inevitably calls for a difference in rights.
With autonomy, the national solidarity of which Corsica has a vital need would seriously crumble, or even disappear.
Inhabitants of the poorest region of France, the Islanders themselves cut the branch on which they are sitting.
In any case, the insularity of Corsica, moreover a mountain in the sea, creates a multifaceted handicap, particularly economic, which does not compensate for its natural beauty.
This penalizing inequality calls for a national solidarity pact addressing all aspects of the issue and not just territorial continuity with a clearly insufficient financial envelope.
It will ultimately be up to Parliament to decide.
We must hope that in his wisdom he will reject this project, which is disastrous not only for Corsica but also for the whole of France.