The senior politician on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica has sparked a row with Paris after calling for strict limits on any non-residents buying property there, reports The Telegraph.
Up until now, Corsican nationalists have been notoriously direct in expressing their discontent at anyone not from the so-called "Island of Beauty" purchasing holiday homes. They have simply blown them up.
But this week, Paul Giacobbi, head of Corsica's Executive Council, proposed taking the legal route by imposing new rules making it extremely difficult for anyone off the island to buy a house.
"If you can buy property as easy as chocolate on a supermarket shelf, we are headed for catastrophe," Mr Giacobbi said.
He claimed that greedy property speculators from mainland France and beyond have priced ordinary Corsicans out of the property market, leading to ever-higher tensions on an island already renowned for being explosive. Corsica has the highest murder rate per capita in Europe.
"Unless you want speculation and all the problems that come with it, one can no longer tolerate the land of Corsica being totally up for sale," he said.
He suggested limiting property acquisitions to people have lived on the island for at least five years or who have "family ties to Corsica", as well as making certain parts of the island out-of-bounds for non-residents.
However, his proposal sparked outrage on mainland France – with which tensions have long been rife - and from other Corsican politicians who argue that he is simply courting the nationalist vote.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, sovereignist French MP, said the proposal amounted to "segregation". "Such xenophobia is no more acceptable for a foreigner than among French people," he said.
Marie-Dominique Roustan-Lanfranchi, from the association Corse-France said: "We must stop thinking that Corsica is alone in the world."
Read more of this report from The Telegraph.