France is our ally says Corsican

FRANCE is a ‘friendly country’ said the president of the Corsican Assembly, in Paris this week for discussions with Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

Jean-Guy Talamoni made the provocative statement on France Info radio in the run-up to negotiations over demands by the Corsican leadership for more autonomy for the island to be written into the French constitution. A pays ami refers to an ally state, whereas Corsica is considered a part of metropolitan France.

Following on from a win in December’s regional elections by a coalition of Corsican nationalists and autonomists, the ‘Corsican question’ – the centuries-old problem of how far to go in recognising the island as having a separate identity to France – is back on the drawing board.

You can read more about the ‘Corsican question’ and what the island’s leaders are hoping for – including an interview with the founder of the modern Corsican autonomy movement - in a two-page feature in the February issue of the paper, out now.

You can find a newsagent that stocks the paper at findthepressinfrance.com or download a PDF version, priced €3.80, at connexionfrance.com.