repair relations, gas supply and migration

The frictions and reproaches for the wounds of the colonial past that have marked the relationship between France and Algeria during the last year seem to be filing away.

Improving the state of bilateral relations, healing the wounds of the colonial era, diversifying the supply of Algerian gas to Europe in the midst of an energy crisis due to the war in Ukraine, and increasing student visas tend to indicate a healing of the complex relations between both countries and a different look at the Maghreb.

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Looking at the colonial past with “truth” and “recognition”

On the second day of his visit to Algeria, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, stated this Friday, August 26, that the search for “truth” and recognition” are more important than “repentance” in relation to the period of colonization. between 1830 and 1962 and the North African country’s war of independence, which just this year celebrated its 60th anniversary.

“I often hear that, on the question of memory and the Franco-Algerian question, we are constantly asked to choose between pride and repentance. I want the truth, recognition, otherwise we will never move forward”, declared the French president during his visit to the European Christian and Jewish cemetery of Saint-Eugène, on the outskirts of Algiers, where he laid a floral offering in tribute to the soldiers who died by France during the War of Independence.

The seal of their reconciliation and the objective of “refounding” the bilateral relationship began this Thursday, August 25, after months of diplomatic disagreements, when last year President Macron accused Algeria of rentier use of historical memory, to which the African country responded by withdrawing its ambassador for three months.

Tensions were also heightened by France’s decision to drastically reduce the number of visas issued to people from North Africa, including Algeria, because the governments of those countries refused to accept migrants expelled from France.

“Flexibility” in granting visas to France

After talking about the colonial past, Macron met with the French community at the Villa des Oliviers and announced that he will extend his visit until Saturday in order to sign a bilateral agreement of “renewed, concrete and ambitious association” with his counterpart Addelmajid Tebboune.

The agreement is intended to “build a new pact for the future” without hiding anything from the colonial past, a commitment that he has said several times in the two days, out of three, that he has been visiting.

The agreement includes, among other points, new bilateral cooperation such as the increase in visas granted to Algerian students, who currently number 30,000 in French territory.

Now, France will include the acceptance of 8,000 more Algerian students each year within the framework of a “shared chosen mobility”, being more rigorous in the fight against clandestine immigration. The French president supported the need to develop “new partnerships with our youth” and added that “we are ready to build a new future.”

One of the great priorities for France is that within this agreement it is also included that the Algerian authorities accept its citizens in an irregular situation or convicted by justice and who have been expelled from the European country.

Macron said he agreed with Tebboune to work to combat illegal immigration while ensuring more flexible ways for nationals of the North African country to arrive in France legally.

France wants to have “a much more flexible approach” in granting visas to the families of people with dual French-Algerian nationality, artists, athletes and businessmen, it added.

The French president also referred to the creation of the mixed commission of historians on the 130 years of colonization and the war of independence to evaluate the colonial past in a “free and without taboos” manner, insisting on the need not to lock oneself in the past.

The role of Algeria in the supply of gas to Europe

The war in Ukraine has reinforced Algeria’s status as a key partner in the supply of gas to the European continent. Given the urgency of Europe to break with dependence on Russian gas, Macron valued the role of Algeria – Africa’s leading gas exporter – to “diversify” the gas supply on the continent and denied that his country seeks to increase the Algerian supply, but to “consolidate” the cooperation.

“It is very good that there is greater cooperation and more volume through the Italian Transmed gas pipeline because it is a matter of European solidarity,” Macron declared about the increase in supply agreed with Italy in the midst of the energy crisis.

As for France, the president clarified that his country “depends little on gas in its energy mix: around 20%”, of which Algeria represents only 8% to 9%, but expressed the need to strengthen strategic cooperation .

Consequently, the Algerian Minister of Energy, Mohamed Arkab, met with the general director of the French group Engie, Catherine MacGregor. “The parties reviewed the status of cooperation and partnership relations between the two groups Sonatrach (Algerian hydrocarbon company) and Engie and future investment prospects,” Arkab told the official APS news agency.

Arkab added that the future investment between the two companies seeks to structure projects “particularly hydrocarbons, electricity and renewable energies.”

Macron, who arrived in Algeria this Thursday with a delegation of 90 people including ministers, parliamentarians, historians, businessmen and heads of economic and cultural organizations, seeks to restore the complex relations between the two countries and promote cooperation at all levels.

This is the French president’s second visit to Algeria and the first since Tebboune came to power in December 2019, which coincides with Europe’s urgency to replace Russia as a gas supplier.

With AFP, AP, EFE and France 24 in French