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The Guardian
July 7,
2003
Summary:
A plan
for giving Corsica greater political
autonomy from France was submitted to the Corsican people by
referendum. It was narrowly defeated, by 51% to 49%. The plan would
have created a single Corsican assembly elected by full representation
(proportional representation).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,992836,00.html
Corsicans say No to more home rule
By Jon Henley
July 7, 2003
The people of Corsica yesterday rejected a plan aimed at giving
their beautiful but unruly island more autonomy from mainland France
- and, Paris had hoped, at ending more than a quarter of a century
of separatist violence. It was the first significant policy defeat
for France's centre-right government. The powerful interior
minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who had campaigned hard for a yes vote,
said the government had lost the referendum on its plan by 50.98% of
votes against to 49.02% in favour of the proposal, which would have
streamlined Corsica's political institutions and given a single
assembly of 91 locally elected politicians more say over tax,
tourism, public services and the environment. "The government will
respect their choice," a stone-faced Mr Sarkozy said on television
after the result was confirmed. He had said that if Corsicans
rejected the plan, which would also have introduced parity for women
in a notoriously macho political culture, "nothing more could be
done for the place". Michel Scarbonci, a leftwing Corsican MEP and
one of the leaders of the "no" campaign, said Corsicans had not been
not fooled. "Despite all the government's efforts, they have shown
that they are fed up with being the laboratory for Paris's
decentralisation plans. Above all, they do not believe a simple
administrative change will end the violence." Turnout was higher
than for recent general and presidential elections, officials said,
with over 60% of the island's 190,000-strong electorate voting. But
several commentators suggested the suspiciously wecll-timed arrest
on Friday of France's most wanted Corsican separatist, Yvan Colonna,
who had been on the run since the 1998 assassination of the island's
top French government official, could have backfired on the "yes"
campaign. "It was a blatant public relations manoeuvre aimed at
persuading voters that a vote for a single local assembly, elected
by proportional representation, would not automatically be playing
into the hands of nationalist extremists," said Noel Mamere, a
leading Green party politician. "Corsicans, particularly
nationalists who might otherwise have voted for the plan, saw
straight through it." Colonna was transferred from the island to
Paris yesterday and brought before investigating judges, who placed
him under investigation - one step short of formal charges - for
murder and links to a terrorist organisation. The Mediterranean
island - an unruly part of France ever since Genoa gave it to Paris
in part-payment of a debt in 1768 - has been plagued for the past 28
years by almost daily bombings, machine-gunnings and other mainly
symbolic attacks by a small, splintered but highly active
nationalist movement. While less than 10% of the island's 260,000
population actually want full independence from France, very few
dare to openly oppose the warring separatist groups, many of which
are little more than fratricidal Mafia-style racketeering gangs who
have killed more than 100 of their own members in 9,000-odd attacks
since 1975. The tourists would never know it, but Corsica, which
relies on them, state aid and civil service employment for economic
survival, has long been the most corrupt of all France's
departements, swallowing tens of millions of pounds of government
and European Union funding with little or nothing to show for it.
The government plan, which polls suggested had the backing of
between 51 and 55% of Corsicans, was the first step in a daring
venture for France's traditionally highly centralised
administration. Other regions, including Brittany, were watching the
poll's outcome with interest. But Corsica, the birthplace of
Napoleon Bonaparte, had been causing Paris so many problems for so
long that even President Jacques Chirac, an instinctive enemy of
autonomy, had taken the substantial political risk of backing the
"yes" campaign. The plan was based largely on proposals drawn up by
the previous socialist government of Lionel Jospin in the wake of
the most serious separatist attack since the 1976 killing of two
gendarmes by nationalist gunmen - the murder in February 1998 of its
prefect, Claude Erignac. |
