The Corsican language can not be used in the Corsican parliament, the administrative court of appeal of Marseille has confirmed in a judicial decision.
Corsican nationalists are not pleased with the outcome, pronounced on November 19 and reported on November 26 by AFP, and said they would appeal to the Council of State.
According to the Marseille court, the use of Corsican in debates in the Corsican assembly is forbidden because it is contrary to the French Constitution, which states that, “The language of the Republic is French.”
Based on this, the court stated: “The use of French is binding on legal persons governed by public law and persons governed by private law in the exercise of a public service mission.”
“Article 16 of the Rules of Procedure of the Executive Council of Corsica, as well as Article 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of Corsica” providing for “the right to express oneself … in a language other than the French language”, are “contrary to the requirements of Article 2 of the Constitution”, it said.
An original decision had been made on March 9, 2023 by the administrative court of Bastia, which had annulled a decision of the Corsican assembly and the executive council of the Collectivity of Corsica (CDC) validating the use of the Corsican language, but the CDC appealed.
