Corsican nationalists press Paris for greater autonomy

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS

After a very strong showing in Sunday’s first round of the French Mediterranean island’s territorial election, Corsican nationalists leaders urged Paris on Monday "to open fair discussions" for greater autonomy, excluding independence of the island in the near future.

With 45.36 percent of votes, Corsican nationalists' coalition list Pe a Corsica (For Corsica), led by Gilles Simeoni, mayor of the northern city of Bastia, will have a huge majority in the new 63-seat territorial assembly of the island.

The list representing President Emmanuel Macron's La Republique En Marche (Republic on the Move) party came fourth with only 11.26 percent of the votes.

For Corsican nationalist leader and president of the Corsican assembly, Jean-Guy Talamoni, the French president and his government should "break with the politics of indifference and democratic denial".

"At some point Paris will have to open fair discussions with the elected officials of Corsica," Talamoni, who has been nicknamed Corsica's Puigdemont after Catalonia's former separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, told France Inter radio on Monday.

Talamoni said the question of independence would only come up "in 10 or 15 years".

"We are separatists and we are democrats and if the Corsicans want by a majority [independence], in 10 or 15 years, nobody will be able to oppose it," he said.

Corsica not Catalonia

"I think that today Corsica is sending a very strong signal to Paris and that a large majority is saying: We want peace, we want democracy, we want to build an emancipated island," Simeoni told reporters on Sunday , calling the nationalists alliance's win "a democratic tidal wave".

In an interview to Europe 1 radio on Monday, Simeoni also ruled out pushing for full independence, saying: "It’s not the issue right now [...] the Catalan model is not transferable to Corsica."

This is the second victory in a row for the nationalists, who first came to power in 2015. Unlike Spain’s Catalonia region, Corsica’s ruling coalition is tilting to more autonomy: more local control of matters like taxation and education and not independence.

"We want to open up negotiations with France," Simeoni said. "We want to facilitate access to property, especially for the young and the poor, and that passes through a status of resident."

Corsica was ceded to France in 1768 after 250 years of being ruled by the Italian city state of Genoa. France does not accept demands that Corsican -- the local language is closer to Italian than French -- be recognized as an official language and has taken a firm stance against armed groups on the island.

The second round of voting is scheduled for Dec. 10.