Chevenement resigns over autonomy deal for Corsica

The French Interior Minister, Mr Jean-Pierre Chevenement, resigned yesterday in protest at the French government's plan to grant limited autonomy to the Mediterranean island of Corsica.

The resignation had been expected for more than a month, since it became clear that the Matignon Accords would give the Corsican territorial assembly legislative powers. Mr Chevenement warned that the Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, "knows how far he mustn't go" and refused to defend a draft law on Corsica in the National Assembly.

Mr Chevenement has three grievances. Although many regional assemblies across Europe enjoy legislative powers, Mr Chevenement believes such a measure would violate the republican principle of equality and destroy the unity of France.

Secondly, he rejects negotiations with Corsican nationalists as long as they do not disband armed groups and condemn attacks on the island.

"A violent minority continues to want to impose its solutions through terror and blackmail on the vast majority of our Corsican compatriots, who want to remain French," he said last week.

Until late last year, Mr Jospin shared his interior minister's views on the denunciation of violence. "I lifted what I had myself posed as a condition: the condemnation of violence by the nationalists," the prime minister wrote on August 17th in an attempt to explain his position to the French public. "I realised that otherwise, dialogue could not have started."

The third issue that led to Mr Chevenement's departure was his humiliation in a feud between the prime minister's advisers on Corsica and the interior minister's staff. At the prime minister's office, counsellors emphasise Mr Chevenement's wounded pride - to detract from the fact that he resigned on principle.

Mr Alain Christnacht, a former official at the French external intelligence service DGSE and Mr Jospin's chief strategist on Corsica, oversaw negotiations with the nationalists, excluding Mr Chevenement from an issue that was traditionally the domain of the interior minister.

The continuing violence in Corsica - two assassinations and four attacks with explosives since August 7th - has been cited by Mr Chevenement as proof that he was right. When the agreement was announced on July 20th, Mr Chevenement at first appeared isolated. But politicians from both left and right, many newspaper editors and a large segment of the public have rallied to him. Equally disquieting for Mr Jospin, two other cabinet ministers express ideas similar to Mr Chevenement's.

An opinion poll published at the weekend indicated that 57 per cent of the French are displeased with Mr Jospin's Corsican policy.

As often happens, the prime minister has done a poor job of presenting a worthy project.