France is not ready to apologize to Algeria

According to a poll conducted by IFOP French institute, the majority of French people (around 52 percent) were for apologizing for Algerians. A representative of the ruling socialist party showed the same position. Yet, Paris seems not be ready to apologize.

French Ambassador to Algiers Beranrd Emié made a statement showing that Paris does not have an intention to apologize.

Emié was on a visit to the province of Oran along with his German counterpart last week. They celebrated the 98th anniversary of the First World War’s end.

He said the French President made progress in terms of memory.

“What François Hollande and Algeria have done in the last four years is a remarkable progress in discourse,” he said.

The French Ambassador evoked words but did not talk about actions. 

On his first visit to Algeria after his election, French President just described the colonization system as “unfair, barbaric and destructive.” This was far away from what Algerians expected from their old colonizer.

The French diplomat talked about the evolution of Algerian-French relations in terms of memory. He mentioned exchanged visits by Algerian war veterans’ minister Tayeb Zitouni and his French counterpart. Those visits are not seen by the public opinion in Algeria as a big event.

Although Algerian-French relations were more stable under Hollande’s rule, his remarks abut colonization were not different a lot from statements made by former President Nicolas Sarkozy.