To the chagrin of autonomiststhe use of Corsica in the debates at the Assembly of Corsica is prohibited because contrary to the Constitution, has confirmed the Council of State. Elected officials who were in favor announced on Friday to want to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECDH).
In a judgment rendered on Thursday and consulted by AFP, the Council of State considered that there was no need to transmit to the Constitutional Council the priority question of constitutionality posed by the Community of Corsica (CDC), believing that it follows from the Constitution that “individuals can only claim, in their relations with administration and public services, a right of use of a language other than French”.
The Council of State also considered that “the appeal was not based on any serious means” and could therefore not be admitted.
In a joint press release, Gilles Simeoni, Autonomist president of the Corsican Executive Council and Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis, Autonomist president of the Corsican Assembly, “take note” of this decision which “condemns the language corse to be banned from public space ”.
The judgment rendered on June 5, 2025 by the Council of State banned the Corsican language of public life: we will contest it before the European Court of Human Rights pic.twitter.com/qHnqq3sxdt
– Gilles Simeoni (@gilles_simeoni) June 6, 2025
Believing that this decision is “in reverse of the fundamental rights consecrated and guaranteed in all the great democracies, and in contradiction with the very majority, even unanimous aspirations, of Corsicans and their elected representation”, they announce that they want to file an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights and “propose to all elected officials and citizens who wish” to associate themselves.
Benefit from official language status
This decision “also confirms us in the conviction that the constitutional revision process for a status of autonomy for the Corsica must succeed, including to allow the Corsican language to benefit from an official language status, guaranteeing its use in all acts of public life, “they add.
In November 2024, the Marseille administrative court of appeal rejected the appeal of the Corsican community against the judgment of the Bastia administrative court of March 9, 2023, which had canceled the deliberations of the Corsican Assembly and the CDC Executive Council validating the use of the language of the island.
She confirmed that “Article 16 of the Internal Regulation of the Executive Council of Corsica, as well as article 1 of the Internal Regulations of the Corsican Assembly”, providing for “the right to express themselves (..) in a language other than the French language”, were “contrary to the requirements of article 2 of the Constitution” of October 4, 1958.
