 In August 1975, he sent the military to repress the nationalist rebellion headed by Corsican Edmond Simeoni who had illegally occupied a wine cave in Aleria.Two "gendarmes" were killed during the assault, leading him, along with Jacques Chirac, of being accused of a large part of the responsibility in the violence which then hit Corsica.Following the assassination of Prince Jean de Broglie, a Giscardian deputy, "L'Express" (January 1977) and then "Le Canard enchaîné", in 1980, published documents alleging that Poniatowski had known in advance of the death threats on de Broglie, and had not acted accordingly.