Protests in Corsica erupt as court bans use of local language in French Island

Corsica: Protests have erupted in the French island after a court outlawed that use of native language in the island’s municipal parliament.

French is the only language permitted in the exercise of public office, according to the Bastia court’s decision on Thursday, which was supported by the French constitution.

The UN’s cultural agency UNESCO believes that Corsican, which is similar to standard Italian and has about 150,000 native speakers, is in risk of disappearing.

The court’s decision on Thursday prohibited the Corsican assembly’s practise of permitting the language to be used during debates because it was unconstitutional.

The court decided that municipal laws that essentially established “the reality of a Corsican people” were unconstitutional in addition to the language problem.

The decision comes as Emmanuel Macron’s administration is negotiating with local politicians about giving Corsica more autonomy. The lawsuit was filed by the prefect of Corsica, the central government’s highest official on the island.

Leading pro-autonomy politicians criticised the decision right away.

Presidents of the island’s executive council, Gilles Simeoni and Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis, and the Corsican assembly both criticised the decision as depriving parliamentarians on the island of their right to talk in their native tongue during discussions.

They announced an appeal against the judgement in a joint statement, saying, “Accepting this state of affairs is unthinkable for us. They claimed that in order for Corsican to live and advance, it needed to be recognised as an official language alongside French.

The pro-independence group Core in Fronte called the verdict “shameful” in a tweet that it posted in Corsican.

The boss of the Party of the Corsican Nation, Jean-Christophe Angelini, wrote that the decision “sounds to us like an insult”, also calling it “an injustice and a disgrace”.

Corsica and France’s national government have a tense relationship because nationalist groups have long called for greater autonomy or even outright independence.

Last month, Macron declared that he had “no taboos” about changing the status of Corsica, a bright Mediterranean island that is a favourite among tourists. He insisted, nonetheless, that Corsica must stay a part of France.

The conditional release of two men convicted of taking part in the 1998 assassination of the island’s prefect Claude Érignac—the highest-ranking French official ever assassinated—seems to have opened the door for new talks between Paris and Corsican leaders.

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