French Senate rejects bill on Corsican autonomy — Anadolu Agency

On Monday evening, the French Senate rejected a constitutional bill on autonomy for Corsica. A total of 181 senators voted against the document, while 134 voted in favor, Anadolu Agency reports, citing Les Echos.

Changes to the draft

Before the vote, right-wing forces holding a majority in the upper house of parliament substantially rewrote the text previously approved by the National Assembly. In particular, they removed the reference to an “island community” from the proposed constitutional provision and also narrowed the scope of the special powers envisaged for Corsica.

The process of granting the island autonomous status within the French Republic was launched in 2022 at the request of President Emmanuel Macron, when Gérald Darmanin was interior minister. A compromise version was approved by the Corsican Assembly in 2024, and the National Assembly supported it in June 2026.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Autonomists' reaction

Following the Senate's decision, Paul-Toussaint Parigi, a senator from the autonomist party Femu a Corsica, said that his political force was withdrawing from the Beauvau process. Gilles Simeoni, the mayor of Bastia and one of Corsica's prominent autonomists, said that the island's representatives had tried to find a political solution but encountered resistance to the process.

The Party of the Corsican Nation also withdrew its support for the process, criticizing what it described as the senators' contemptuous attitude. Following the Senate's rejection, the future of the reform remains uncertain: constitutional changes in France must be approved in identical wording by both houses of parliament and then receive the support of three-fifths of parliamentarians at a joint session.