In some countries, such as Spain, the danger of second homes has to do with the fact that they are occupied illegally. In Corsica, for different reasons, the risk is that they will suffer an attack with explosives or a criminal arson. The island of beauty, incorporated into France in 1769, has been suffering for decades from the phenomenon of attacks on homes owned by so-called “continentals”. The problem has intensified in the last year. There have been around seventy cases, a routine that barely makes headlines anymore.
The renewed harassment of fellow French citizens of the Hexagon who own houses in Corsica is the result of having exacerbated nationalist sentiment and uneasiness towards Paris. “Out with the French!” or “Out speculators!” it is usually read in the graffiti left by the clandestine groups responsible for the attacks. The usual thing is that explosions and fires take place when the owners are absent. The intention is not to kill but to cause material damage and frighten, so that outsiders will leave, and to dissuade those who intend to build a refuge in the privileged Mediterranean enclave.
The trigger for this new heated phase of the Corsican issue was the death of Yvan Colonna, in March of last year, weeks after he had been brutally assaulted, in Arles prison, by a radicalized Muslim inmate . Colonna was serving a life sentence for the murder of prefect Claude Érignac in 1998, a terrorist action of enormous impact and with consequences that are still lingering. Corsican nationalists considered that the State was to some extent jointly responsible for the fatal attack on Colonna for not having protected him as it should have and for having refused for years to soften the fulfillment of his sentence and to transfer him in a prison on the island, near his family. It is feared that the riots after Colonna’s death have enlightened a new generation of young extremist nationalists.
The criminal arsons and bombs bear the signature of the reconstituted National Liberation Front Cors (FLNC) or new ideologically very close groups, such as Joventut Clandestina Corsa (GCC). They justify their violent campaign against the mainlanders in the fact that almost 30% of the housing stock on the island are second homes with which they do not live in Corsica. The saboteurs denounce real estate speculation and its resulting consequences, including the fact that access to housing is prohibitive for many islanders, especially young people. It is a problem suffered by other very dense tourist areas in Europe, but which in Corsica perhaps reaches a level of greater severity and is complicated by nationalist and independence claims, added to historical resentments towards Paris.
It is paradoxical that the increase in attacks on second residences is taking place precisely while what has been called “the Beauvau process (headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior in Paris)” is being developed. There have already been four meetings between the Corsican leaders – including their regional president, the autonomist Gilles Simeoni – and the head of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, the man appointed by President Emmanuel Macron to try to find a consensual exit and lasting in the dispute with the rebel island. After the last meeting, on Wednesday, Simeoni was cautiously optimistic about the Government’s attitude and the prospect of progress.
There is a possible constitutional amendment on the table to unequivocally recognize the Corsican singularity and its right to autonomy. But the difficulty lies in the interpretation and scope of this autonomy, both in financial and cultural and identity terms. The restriction of the rights of mainlanders to buy real estate is also discussed and controversial, under the pressure of the attacks. Another relevant point of friction is language. Until now, Paris – and Macron reiterated this clearly when he visited the island in 2018 – refuses to co-officialize the choir because it would question the constitutional principle that French is the language of the Republic and a factor of cohesion – and uniformity – since more than two centuries ago. France tolerates, with little enthusiasm, bilingualism, but closes to co-officiality with the territorial languages. It is difficult for Corsican nationalists to compromise on this aspect.
