The assessment of France’s action during the colonial era was the first subject addressed by Macron and Tebboune as part of the official visit of the French president.
Macron’s visit to Algeria has already brought about the first political consequences at a time when Europe is going through a major energy crisis which, in the words of French President Emmanuel Macron, has brought us to “the end of abundance”.
The first day of his visit to Algeria also coincided with the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Algeria’s independence, which is not insignificant since, as a first common political measure, both Macron and his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmajid Tebboune, announced the creation of a commission on the colonization and the war of independence of Algeria.
AFP/LUDOVIC MARIN – French President Emmanuel Macron (CL) attends a banquet hosted by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune (CR) at the presidential palace in Algiers on August 25, 2022
With the creation of this commission, the two countries seek to “build new bilateral cooperation” and to face “regional and global challenges” with a common vision. Aware of France’s colonialist past in this country, Macron regretted sharing “a painful history with Algeria (…) what matters to us is to build the common future of our two countries”.
According to Macron’s statements, “we are living in a unique moment that allows us to look back. We have discussed this and agreed to set up a commission that will work without taboos, with access to our archives to carry out this work. of recognition”.
AFP/FAYEZ NURELDINE – Between 1960 and 1966, France carried out 17 nuclear tests on the sites of Reggane then Ain Ekra in the Algerian Sahara
For Algeria, the declassification of documents that prove how France carried out nuclear tests in Algeria, before and after the country’s independence, is part of the historical demands that Algerians have been making for years. In this context, the first official nuclear test that France would have carried out in Algeria dates back to the 1960s in the Algerian commune of Reggane. According to various documents, this test would have led to the contamination of the Saharan desert by plutonium and the exposure of the local Tuareg population, as well as soldiers of the French army, to radioactive materials.
The statements of rapprochement and redemption diverge from those published by the French president last year, accusing Algeria of making “a rentier use of memory”, which caused a diplomatic crisis with the withdrawal of the Algerian ambassador to France. A year later, France, also aware of its gradual loss of influence on the continent with the withdrawal of its troops after the end of Operation Barkhane, opted for a new partnership with Algeria in which they agreed to create “a new horizon”.
AFP/ FLORENT VERGNES – French forces have supported Mali against insurgents for almost a decade
In addition, the Algerian president said that several diplomatic visits would be made to try to find solutions to “issues of common interest” related to regional instability in countries such as Libya, Mali, the Sahel region and Western Sahara.
Tebboune also welcomed what he described as “encouraging results” opening up “promising prospects for the special partnership that unites the two countries”.
Gas, another key theme of the French visit
Another of the issues that led the French president to visit Algeria is securing Algeria’s gas supply on the eve of autumn. Unlike Spain, which is currently going through a major diplomatic crisis with Algiers – with repercussions for gas supplies – Paris is strengthening its ties in a bid to ensure that this “end of plenty” has the least impact. possible impact.
AFP/AFP – Map of the gas pipeline network between Spain and France, which includes the MidCat project, which has broken down
From Spain, and with the aim of seeking alternatives to Russian gas, the construction of the MidCat gas pipeline project continues to be completely paralyzed. This gas pipeline, which could link Spain to the rest of the European Union via France, has been continuously rejected by France. This fact has pushed Madrid to look for other partners for future constructions, such as Italy, although nothing is certain yet.