An agreement which cedes unprecedented powers to Corsica raised the chances of peace on the island, but risked provoking demands for special treatment from other French regions, commentators said yesterday.
The French Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, reached agreement with Corsican nationalists on Thursday following months of talks to end two decades of separatist violence on the Mediterranean isle. He did so only after offering to amend the constitution to allow the island's assembly to adapt national laws, a watershed in one of the EU's most centralised states.
Commentators said Mr Jospin's break with tradition would show other regional groups that change was possible, and could prove a key issue for presidential elections in 2002, when he is expected to face President Chirac. "The door has been opened to multiple demands for special laws . . . which can now be claimed in Brittany, Alsace or the Basque Country," said Le Figaro newspaper. Government ministers voiced similar concerns earlier this week, warning Mr Jospin to avoid giving in to separatist "blackmail" that could encourage other regions to follow suit.
Mr Chirac had insisted on the unity of the Republic in a Bastille day interview, and his RPR party voiced concern at the deal which is expected to be endorsed by the Corsican assembly on Friday.
The leader of the Corsica Nazione party, Mr Jean-Guy Talamoni, brought presidential politics into play, making a pointed call for Mr Chirac to back the proposals. "There must be, in the weeks to come, a commitment not only from the French government, but from all French officials, the political class and the state, including the President of the Republic," Mr Talamoni told Europe 1 radio.
Mr Jospin's proposals envisage a phased transfer of power, pushing the thorny issue of constitutional change back to 2004 - at arm's length from the presidential campaign period.