Corsica’s proposed autonomy within the French Republic has cleared its first parliamentary hurdle, with lawmakers backing a constitutional reform that could give the island new powers while leaving key state authority in Paris.
Issued on: 03/06/2026 - 16:49
3 min Reading time
The National Assembly's law committee approved the bill on Tuesday, keeping alive a reform that would give Corsica new powers to adapt some French laws to local conditions while remaining within France. The text will be debated in the full chamber from 16 June, with a vote expected on 23 June, before moving to the Senate later in the year. The push for autonomy follows a crisis in March 2022, when Corsican nationalist Yvan Colonna was fatally attacked by another prisoner in a jail in the southern French city of Arles. The assault triggered days of unrest on the island and prompted the government to reopen discussions about Corsica's future status. “We are ready to go as far as autonomy,” Darmanin told the Corsican daily newspaper Corse-Matin at the time. Two years of negotiations later, Paris and Corsican elected officials agreed on a proposal for “an autonomous Corsica within the republic”.
Demonstrators take part in a protest following the death of Corsican separatist Yvan Colonna, in Ajaccio, on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, on 3 April, 2022. © AFP/Pascal Pochard-Casabianca
