On 26 October 2026, the Senate rejected the constitutional bill for an autonomous Corsica within the Republic. The public vote no. 34 recorded 181 votes against and 134 in favour, out of 315 votes cast; 25 senators abstained.
At this stage, the rejection prevents the amendment from being completed under the procedure set out in Article 89. It grants no new powers to the Collectivité de Corse and does not allow the future statute to be considered adopted.
What the text from the National Assembly provided for
The bill adopted by MPs on 23 June and sent to the Senate on 24 June 2026 proposed inserting an Article 72-5 into the Constitution. It provided for a statute of autonomy within the Republic, followed by the possibility of authorising the Collectivité de Corse to adapt certain rules and to establish rules in its areas of competence.
These possibilities were to be governed by an organic law. In particular, the text excluded nationality, justice, criminal law, defence and currency from the areas in which authorisations could be granted. It also provided for voters registered in Corsica to be consulted on the draft statute.
This is the version sent by the National Assembly, ahead of the Senate’s examination. Its contents describe a proposed reform, not powers that have already come into force.
Why the National Assembly cannot have the final say on its own
Article 89 of the Constitution requires both houses to vote on an identical text. The MPs’ adoption of the bill therefore cannot override the absence of agreement from the Senate.
This parliamentary stage comes before final approval. For a constitutional amendment bill, approval can be given by referendum or, if the President of the Republic chooses this route, by Parliament meeting in Congress. In the latter case, the required majority is three fifths of the votes cast.
As of 27 October 2026, the obstacle therefore lies before this final approval: a text adopted by both houses is still lacking. The vote result alone does not allow one to conclude either that the amendment will soon come into force or that all reform has been definitively abandoned.
*Archive image: the Palais du Luxembourg, home of the Senate in Paris, in 2019. Tournon Lucie / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.*
