The Executive Council of Corsica has denounced that the judgment of the Administrative Tribunal of Labastia “seized by the French State” is discriminatory: “prohibits the elected officials of Corsica from speaking in their language, in the Assembly of Corsica, in the Executive and in public acts”. This was warned on 10 March by Gilles Simeoni, President of the Executive Council of Corsica, and Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis, President of Asanblea, as received by the media of the island of Corse Net Infos.

The Bastia Tribunal suspends the rule initiated by the assembly on 16 December 2021. This rule was unanimously approved by the parliamentarians and specified the option of using the corsic: “The Assembly of Corsica and the Executive Council of Corsica are guarantors of the material and moral interests of the Corsican people. The languages of discussion in the Assembly of Corsica are the corso and the French”. This decision was endorsed by the executive on 8 February 2022, so the same rule was in both bodies.

At that time, Pascal Lelarge, prefect of the island (representative of the French Government), lodged an appeal on the grounds that the rule was contrary to the French Constitution, on the one hand because the reference to the people of Corsica was “against the single and indivisible republic”, and on the other because “the language of the republic is French”, referring to Article 2. The court is right.

“Unthinkable,” accept the decision

The presidents of Simeoni and Executive Maupertuis and Asanblea have made it clear that it is “unthinkable” to accept this decision contrary to the rights of the Corsican, and have gone further: “This judicial decision and its reason ratify the need to reform the constitution, specifically to give the Corso the status of cooficiality, necessary to guarantee the survival and development of the language”.

They announce measures after the next assembly. Following the unanimous approval of the use of Corsica, they announced that the next session will propose to all parliamentary groups a “common position” in the face of the “legal and political situation” that has been caused by the Administrative Court in Bastia.

Discriminatory and offensive

François Alfonsi, member of the Abertzale Femu party to Corsica, has criticised discrimination on social networks: “Illegal corsicer in Corsica! Can you imagine a more discriminatory situation for the Corsican people?” He thanks the special reporter on UN minority affairs for publicly warning that the decision violates international law. Jean-Christophe Angelini, leader of the Assembly's Avanzemu group, says the sentence is "offensive".