PARIS- The stake in the French-Algerian relations is now “the peace of memories,” even if the colonial past was “brutal and tragic,” affirmed French Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Désir.
“There are deep human and cultural ties between our two countries. If the colonial past was brutal and tragic, the stake is now the peace of memories,” he replied to a question of the head of the Republican Group to Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, following the statement, in Algiers, of presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron.
For the French Secretary of State, who represented the minister, Algeria is an important political and economic partner for France “with which we have to build a common future,” underlining that President François Hollande and the government are working in this regard.
Booed by the deputies of the Republicans, according to the session’s full report put online on Wednesday, Harlem Désir pointed out that Algiers’ declaration on the friendship and cooperation between France and Algeria, signed during the visit of President Hollande in 2012, was followed by the establishment of a high-level intergovernmental committee and a French-Algerian joint economic committee.
“It is by strengthening our cooperation with Algeria in all the fields that we will contribute to the peace of memories. We all should focus on the relation between France and Algeria, essential to our both countries and to the Mediterranean,” he affirmed.
Source: “Peace of memories” is now French-Algerian relations’ stake
