Corsican nationalists have delivered a strong warning to Paris as the French National Assembly today begins debating the Prime Minister's draft law on autonomy for the Mediterranean island.
If the terms of the Matignon accords, ratified by the Corsican assembly last summer, are too watered down, the nationalists say, Mr Lionel Jospin's attempts to end political violence in Corsica are doomed.
That message was conveyed most forcefully by squads of hooded gunmen who appeared on the streets of Corsica's main towns at the weekend to distribute tracts. These celebrated the 25th anniversary of the founding of the National Front for the Liberation of Corsica (FLNC).
In the capital, Ajaccio, groups of up to a dozen men with assault rifles went into shopping centres and supermarkets to hand out issues of the FLNC's underground newspaper, U Ribellu.
The extremists even threw copies through the wrought-iron gate outside the home of the prefect, France's top representative on the island.
The gunmen's political counterparts from four Corsican nationalist parties held a conclave in the mountain town of Corte, where they announced they were merging into a single party called Indipendenza (Independence).
The nationalists have been severely handicapped by internal divisions in the past, but say they now want "to concentrate all our energy on the only true enemy - French colonialism". Nor do they renounce violence. The founding statement of Indipendenza says the party "understands the reasons that pushed the patriots to fight with weapons . . . For our part, we say that this violence is legitimised by the aggression of the French state against the Corsican people, who are exercising their legitimate right to self defence."
The fact that Mr Jean-Guy Talamoni, one of the chief negotiators of the Matignon accords, helped to found the new party strengthened the objections of hardline opponents to the agreement. They claim that Mr Jospin has given in to "the blackmail of violence". In an interview with Liberation newspaper, Mr Jean-Pierre Chevenement, who resigned as interior minister in protest at the accords, said continental France was acquiescing in the autonomy plan "out of a sort of cowardly sense of relief".
Yet the two articles that most angered Mr Chevenement were altered after the Conseil d'Etat ruled them unconstitutional in February. In the new version, released by the National Assembly's commission on laws last week, the Corsican assembly must obtain authorisation from Paris to legislate on a case-bycase basis.
This is not enough to satisfy Mr Chevenement, who says that "legislative power cannot be shared".
The second sticking point, a requirement that the Corsican language be taught in all schools except where parents specifically request that their children be exempted, has been changed to say that classes in Corsican will be on offer.
The nationalists are disgruntled at the changes. "An agreement was made," Mr Talamoni said. "All points must be respected, without any backpedalling." In its founding statement, Indipendenza added a demand for a hiring preference for indigenous Corsicans.
The nationalists want stricter controls on property speculation and the transfer of about 40 Corsican prisoners from mainland France to the island.
"The question of the prisoners is rotting the situation," Mr Talamoni said. Privately, Corsican nationalists accuse France's two main "anti-terrorist" judges, Mr Jean-Louis Brugieres and Mr Gilbert Thiel, of cracking down on nationalists in an attempt to sabotage the Matignon accords.
Mr Jospin's autonomy plan has been a principal source of discord between President Jacques Chirac and the Prime Minister. The draft law which goes before the National Assembly today is expected to be approved after it has been presented to the Senate and returned for a second reading. Despite Mr Chirac's objections, several prominent right-wing politicians support it, including the former prime ministers Mr Edouard Balladur and Mr Raymond Barre.
Ultimately, the law's enforcement - and the leeway given to the Corsican assembly - will be the real test. And that will depend on whether Mr Jospin or Mr Chirac wins next year's presidential election.