Following several months of internal friction, the Unione Nazionale coalition has broken up. Last Thursday, the two autonomist parties announced that they had split from Corsica Nazione Independente (CNI, Corsica Independent Nation) to form a new coalition.

The nationalist Unione Nazionale coalition, which is the third largest group in the Corsican parliament, with 8 seats, was made up of the Parti de la Nation Corse (PNC, Corsican Nation Party) and A Chjama Naziunale (The National Call), which has autonomist leanings, together with CNI, the most powerful party within the coalition. 

Unione Naziunale leader, Jean-Guy Talamoni (of CNI), declared that the split was a "non-event", since "the separation took place months ago". The new autonomist coalition, called Unione Naziunale-PNC-A Chjama, now comprises five MPs, two from PNC and three from A Chjama, including the president of the new coalition, Edmond Siméoni. The CNI group has been rebaptized Unione Naziunale-CNI.

The main divisive issue in Corsican nationalism has always been the attitude of certain Corsican separatist groups towards armed struggle. This Saturday, for example, Talamoni said that the differences separating the two groups include their "different views on independence and armed struggle, which we support, while they systematically condemn it". 

For more information, see the Corsica profile.