French President proposes to give limited autonomy to nationalist Corsica

French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed granting limited autonomous status to Corsica, a French island in the Mediterranean where nationalist sentiment is popular.

Macron said this during a speech in the Corsican parliament, AP reports.

“Let’s be brave and create Corsican autonomy within the republic. It will not be autonomy against the state or autonomy without the state, but autonomy for Corsica and within the republic,” Macron said.

The French president did not say what powers could be transferred from Paris to autonomous Corsica.

He said he favored changing the French constitution to recognize the “specificity” of the island community of Corsica.

Let us remember that last year there were mass protests in Corsica, as a result of which a total of more than 100 people were injured. The reason was the beating of local nationalist Ivan Colonna, who was in prison for the murder of a Corsican prefect in 2011. It was reported that Paris was ready to discuss the issue of autonomy for Corsica if Emmanuel Macron was re-elected.

Colonna himself, who caused the riots in Corsica, died after being attacked in prison.