The Weekly Dispatch is your weekly update on major events in French and European politics, published on Sundays to give you the ideal summary of current affairs.

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This Week

• 📝Reader questionnaire

• 🏝️The future of Corsica

• 🪖Johnson announces NATO Sec. Gen. Candidacy

• 🐄The Salon de l'Agriculture is open!

📝Reader questionnaire

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🏝️The future of Corsica

A part of our country that is rarely discussed internationally, it has become an increasingly important part of the political discourse due to the discussions on the institutional future of the island.

Having been suspended for five months, discussions on institutional reform for Corsica and a revision of its place within the republic have now restarted, with discussions happening on Friday.

With Emmanuel Macron present at the meeting, he repeated that there was “no taboo” in the discussions nor a “predetermined solution”. He was clear that he is willing to include any potential changes within his constitutional reform project.

So long as it happened “after the summer” and that a proposal was made that could become a part of the reform.

The Minister of the interior, Gérald Darmanin said it was “time to inaugurate, together, the beginning of the sequel. Yes it is time to write a new page in the history of Corsica.”

However, a lot of this has not necessarily calmed everyone’s nerves. The separatists from Corsica Libera and Core in Fronte reminded everyone involved that their red line was “the recognition of the Corsican people”.

Amongst the nationalists, there is a general distrust of the government, with the president of the Executive Council of Corscia, Gilles Simeoni accusing the government of playing for time and using delaying actions to avoid the discussion:

“On the one hand, we hear intentions of opening and on the other hand, they do everything so that it does not move forward…[it is time to] put the cards on the table”

With the Corsican nationalists waiting for a hand to be reached out by the government and waiting for answers on what institutional developments could happen and how Corsica can be entered into the Constitution, a game of chicken has begun.

The government would prefer this to be a discussion involving suggestions and requests from the Corsicans, giving them more manoeuvrability to respond and act.

One important thing to note is that Darmanin has been clear that he does not want to see a break in the equality between the French people, and does not want to see one part of our population and our country break away and stop being French.

He was also clear that anyone engaging in autonomy would de facto have to take charge of their own economy and would need to own their autonomy in every way without the total support of the country they become autonomous from.

Which not many nationalists or separatists typically have an answer to.

🪖Johnson announces NATO Sec. Gen. Candidacy

If you missed it yesterday, there was some interesting news that will have an impact on French security and its situation within NATO:

Boris Johnson, the disgraced former Prime Minister who quit after one scandal too many, is putting himself forward as a candidate for NATO Secretary General.

With France having a strong position and a lot of weight to put behind a candidate, you can imagine that the claims that Boris Johnson was running made a lot of heads shake at the thought of the headache they would have to suffer from, and how this would impact the ability of France to defend itself and its allies with an unreliable leader.

If you want to read about this, click on the link below!

The French Dispatch

Johnson announces NATO Sec. Gen. Candidacy

The French …

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25 days ago · 4 comments · Julien Hoez

🐄The Salon de l'Agriculture is open!

A fun thing to end this Dispatch is the International Agricultural Show, which started yesterday at the Porte de Versailles in Paris and runs until Sunday 6 March.

Visited by Presidents and politicians every year, this is a great experience to see everything that French agriculture, culture, and the culinary world offer.

The event is broken up across eight exhibition halls with several themes zones:

• Livestock and related sectors

• Crops and plant sectors

• Agricultural services and professions

• Products from regions across France & its overseas territories

Not only will this great event teach you about France’s different regions and what they bring to our culinary culture, but you can also taste different foods and drinks from around the world, coming from every territory of the French republic.

After the COVID-19-related cancellation, this monumental event deserves all of the support that it can get, as do our tradesmen and agriculteurs across the country, so if you’re in Paris and have a spare day or afternoon over while it’s open, you should head over to salon-agriculture.com and grab a ticket!

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