The Catalan president in exile, Carles Puigdemont, in an interview with the Corsican newspaper Corse Matin (link in French), has called on France to avoid making the "same mistakes" with Corsica that Spain has made over Catalonia.
Asking his view of the current tensions between the French government and Corsican separatists, the president admits he's not fully abreast of all the details of French politics, but says he sees "a return towards a kind of state nationalism. The future and modernity in Europe don't call for this ancient idea of nation states. I see myself in European diversity, not in cultural and linguistic standardisation. I hope that France won't make the same mistakes in Corsica that Spain [did] in Catalonia".
Puigdemont yesterday took part in a talk in Ajaccio, the Corsican capital, via videolink. He spoke with Jean-Guy Talamoni, the pro-independence speaker of the Corsican Assembly.
@KRLS Carles Puigdemont ovationné à Aiacciu!#LeFuturdeLaDémocratie pic.twitter.com/6pHeUnTr4W
— Serena Talamoni (@TalamoniSerena) 7 de maig de 2019
Translation: Standing ovation for Carles Puigdemont in Ajaccio! [Aiacciu in Corsican] #TheFutureOfDemocracy