Macron heads to Corsica to avert French repeat of Catalonia

French president Emmanuel Macron Tuesday begins a two-day visit to the Mediterranean island where a recently elected local administration is making demands for greater autonomy that the national government so far has indicated it can’t accept.

French governments have long struggled in their dealings with Corsica, an island of 330,000 that lies closer to Italy’s coast than France's with an independence movement that’s resorted to violence in the past. While the island’s current leaders have renounced pushing for statehood, they say they could change their minds if the national government doesn’t meet demands for a special status for Corsican residents and an official role for the island's distinct language. Both moves could violate the French constitution.