Corsican language ban on French island sparks protests

In the homeland of Napoleon Bonaparte, a controversial court decision was made

The ban on the Corsican language provoked protests in the homeland of Napoleon Bonaparte. A court in Corsica sparked outrage by banning the use of the Corsican language in the island’s local parliament.

Bastia’s court cited France’s constitution in its ruling on Thursday that French is the only language permitted in the performance of public duties.

According to Agence France-Presse, the Corsican language, close to standard Italian and numbering about 150,000 speakers, according to UNESCO, is in danger of extinction.

Thursday’s verdict ruled that the Corsican Assembly’s custom of allowing Corsican for debate was unconstitutional and therefore banned.

Aside from the language issue, the court said that local rules effectively establishing the “existence of the Corsican people” were also a violation of the constitution.

The decision follows a lawsuit filed by the prefect of Corsica – the highest representative of the central government on the island – and comes as Emmanuel Macron’s administration is negotiating with local politicians to give Corsica more autonomy.

Leading pro-autonomy politicians for Corsica immediately criticized the verdict.

“This decision is tantamount to depriving the members of the Parliament of Corsica of the right to speak their language during debates,” said Gilles Simeoni, president of the island’s executive council, and Marie Antoinette Maupertuis, president of the assembly of Corsica.

“Accepting this state of affairs is unthinkable for us,” local politicians said in a joint statement announcing the appeal against the verdict. According to them, the Corsican language needs to be given official status along with French, so that it can survive and develop.

Supporters of the island’s independence tweeted in Corsican that they considered the verdict “shameful”.

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

Corsica has a tense relationship with the French central government, as nationalist movements have been demanding more autonomy or even complete independence for the island for several decades.

Last month, Macron said he had “no taboo” to change the status of Corsica, which is a sunny Mediterranean island beloved by vacationers. But he insists that Corsica must remain part of France.

New talks between Paris and Corsica’s leaders appear to have been unblocked by the conditional release of two men convicted of their role in the 1998 assassination of the island’s prefect, Claude Erignac.