Corsican autonomy: the Senate trims the bill, the Republic must find the right words

The constitutional bill "for an autonomous Corsica within the Republic" reaches the Senate floor on Monday 26 October. Passed by the National Assembly on 23 June by 271 votes to 202, according to Maire-info, it was substantially rewritten this week by the Law Committee of the Palais du Luxembourg. By every account, the final vote remains highly uncertain.

What the committee voted

On Wednesday 21 October, behind closed doors although the meeting was supposed to be broadcast, the Law Committee adopted seven amendments tabled by its chair and rapporteur, LR senator Muriel Jourda, report Alta Frequenza and Corse Net Infos. According to the latter, each passed by a single vote, 21 to 20.

According to Public Sénat, the committee removed the word "community", the reference to the "singular bond" between Corsicans and their land, and the principle of social and environmental non-regression, deemed too vague. A reference to equality, considered redundant with Article 1 of the Constitution, was also dropped. The rapporteur relies on the Conseil d'État's opinion of July 2025, which had already expressed reservations about the notion of "community".

On the other hand, an amendment aimed at restricting more tightly the normative power granted to the Collectivité de Corse was rejected on a tied vote. The core of the bill, the ability to adapt certain laws, therefore remains.

These votes do not bind the plenary. As Public Sénat points out, since this is a constitutional revision, senators will debate the Assembly's text on Monday. The committee's amendments will have to be tabled again and win a majority on the floor.

The positions at stake

The arguments of the Senate majority deserve a hearing. Muriel Jourda is concerned, according to Public Sénat, about a possible "preference" in land, tax or language matters. Bruno Retailleau spoke of a "constitutionalisation of communitarianism". The LR senator for Corse-du-Sud, Jean-Jacques Panunzi, whose vote tipped the balance in committee, believes, as quoted by Alta Frequenza, that "whoever lives in Corsica is Corsican". For this part of the right, the unity of the French people is not to be negotiated word by word.

On the other side, autonomist politicians denounce a step backwards. The senator for Haute-Corse Paul-Toussaint Parigi, affiliated with the centrist group, told Public Sénat he felt as if he had taken "a blow to the head". In a statement published by Corsica Infurmazione, Femu a Corsica, Gilles Simeoni's party, warns that it would withdraw from the process if constitutional recognition and legislative power were called into question. The party cites an Ifop poll according to which 66% of Corsicans surveyed want the Senate to adopt the bill.

In between, the Socialist group, the largest opposition group, is looking for a way forward. Its leader Patrick Kanner calls, according to Public Sénat, for a "more consensual wording" than the government's, while some of its members remain opposed to the bill. The leader of the centrist group, Hervé Marseille, criticises the rapporteur for having "worked alone".

Neither a leap into the void nor a revolution — Françoise Gatel, Minister for Decentralisation, quoted by Public Sénat

Analysis

The republican concern must be taken seriously. A Constitution that recognised different rights according to origin would break with equality before the law. But that is not what the bill proposes. According to minister Françoise Gatel, heard on 13 October, justice, security and the other sovereign functions remain excluded, and the indivisibility of the Republic is not affected. Differentiated decentralisation already exists for the overseas territories without the Nation coming apart.

The Gaullist tradition has never confused unity with uniformity. A strong State is one that knows how to recognise distinctive features in order to hold the whole together. This process was born after the violence of 2022 on the island. Halting it abruptly in the name of principles could reopen a wound that dialogue had begun to heal.

The debate over the word "community" is legitimate, and the Conseil d'État opened it before the Senate did. A compromise on the wording is possible. More regrettable is the removal of the principle of social and environmental non-regression. If autonomy means adapting standards, the very least guarantee is that it should not be used to lower the protection of workers or coastlines. On an island where land and tourism pressure is strong, this is a requirement of social justice as much as of ecology.

There remains a weakness that the Senate majority is right to point out: everything will depend on an organic law that has not yet been written. The minister herself considers it "not finalised". Asking Parliament to revise the Constitution without knowing the concrete content of autonomy is asking it for an act of trust.

What next?

The revision will have to be adopted in identical terms by both chambers, with no joint committee possible, then approved by referendum or by Congress with a three-fifths majority, Maire-info recalls. Six months before the presidential election, the timetable is tight.

There is a way out from above: rework the vocabulary of recognition to dispel fears of a two-tier citizenship, restore the social and environmental guarantee, and commit to presenting the organic bill before any meeting of Congress. Will the Senate, the chamber of the territories, manage to be the chamber of compromise rather than of deadlock?

Article written with the help of artificial intelligence.