Corsica extinct. However, plans for increased autonomy were opposed by the Gaullist opposition in the French National Assembly, who feared that they would lead to calls for autonomy from other "régions" (such as Brittany, Alsace, or Provence), eventually threatening France's unity as a country. In a referendum on 6 July 2003, a narrow majority of Corsican voters opposed a proposal by the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin and then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy that would have suppressed the two "départements" of the island and granted greater autonomy to the territorial collectivity of Corsica. On 13 December 2015, the regionalist coalition "Pè a Corsica"
Ancient Corsica also interested in Corsica even at this early stage. A first attempt to found a Roman colony on the island in 425 BC was a failure. In 296 BC, the island was used by the Romans as a place of exile for Galerius Torquatus. The Roman conquest of Corsica began in 259 BC, when Lucius Cornelius Scipio captured Aleria (Greek 'Alalia') and several Corsican tribes, in the course of the First Punic War. The Roman invasion of the island marked the expansion of the war beyond Sicily to the entire western Mediterranean. In the subsequent peace treaty in 241 BC