“Discussions are still ongoing, but we have formally agreed to include a specific article [about Corsica] in the Constitution,” Jacqueline Gourault, an interior ministry official in charge of Corsican affairs, told reporters following a meeting with separatists in Ajaccio.
“The President wants this constitutional reform to happen.
“This is not an empty promise, but a concrete reform,” Mrs Gourault added.
Emmanuel Macron offered the unexpected yet highly symbolic move of recognition in the Constitution following a visit to the French Mediterranean island last month, adding that it would be part of a broader reform of French institutions the government would put to parliament in the spring.
Mr Macron said during his visit that a special mention of Corsica in the Constitution would recognise the island’s identity and anchor it within the Republic.
“Corsica is at the heart of the [French] Republic,” he said.
Jean-Guy Talamoni, the president of the Corsican Assembly and leader of the pro-independence Corsica Libera movement, for his part, acknowledged the “timid” step forward but stressed that “more” needed to be done for Corsica.
Mr Macron has rejected several other demands for autonomy made by nationalist leaders, including equal status for the French and Corsican languages and amnesty for political prisoners jailed on the mainland for pro-independence violence.
“I want everyone in the [French] Republic to be able to claim their identity, their specificity. But if this specificity is to be the Republic’s enemy, then it’s an error and I cannot accept it,” he told Corsican officials.
Corsica’s relationship with the mainland is both complex and contentious. The island’s separatists waged a 40-year militant campaign, blowing up police stations and murdering politicians opposed to independence, before ending their armed struggle in 2014.
The hardline separatists went on to form a political alliance with more moderate nationalists.
Together, they won an absolute majority in the Corsican Assembly in December, reigniting the battle for greater autonomy from France.