Brussels, 08/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - In a press statement, MEP Nelly Maes (Greens/EFA, Belgium), expressed her regret that in the referendum on 6 July the Corsicans had rejected, "by a very small majority" institutional reform which, "could have provided a step forward in the process to autonomy in Corsica…We supported the yes campaign via the European Free Alliance's Partitu di Nazione Corsa (PNC) in Corsica", noted the President of the European Free Alliance. She also regretted that, "the extremists of all sides converged in their strategy of maintaining the status quo favouring the dynamic of clans and violence…the arrest of Yvan Colonna on the eve of the referendum certainly went down well with some of the no supporters". Ms Maes called on supporters of dialogue to not get discouraged.
Another MEP, the French sovereignist Paul Marie Coûteaux on the other hand welcomed the result, declaring in a communiqué that, "the Corsicans want their two department to remain fully in the Republic, without any particular status and reject reform supported by the separatists that risked leading to independence for the island. They have voted no, like a few some well know figures, which the sovereignists had asked them to do". According to the MEP for the Rassamblement pour l'indépendence et la sourveraineté de la France, "It can be reasonably expected that the government now abandons any decentralisation projects.