French Interior Minister Pays A 3-Day Surprising Visit to Algeria

The French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, is on a three-day working visit to Algeria, starting from Friday, in line with the improvement in bilateral relations, since the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Algeria at the end of last August.

This visit was not announced in advance, and it is the third of its kind by a French official, about four months ago, after the visit of Macron and the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, accompanied by 14 ministers last October, while the Minister of the French Armies, Sébastien Lecornu, is expected to arrive in Algeria before the end of the current year, as stated in a video of the French ambassador to Algeria, François Gouyette, previously published on the embassy’s website.

according to what was reported by the French Press Agency (France Press), Darmanin will be received by his Algerian counterpart, Ibrahim Mourad, and the discussions between the two officials focus on the issue of immigration, which concerns politicians in France, as preparations are underway for an immigration law, which is expected to be strict in terms of dealing with illegal immigrants.

The issue of immigrants has turned into a subject of political bidding in French political circles, and the extreme right has adopted this issue as a Trojan horse in opposition to President Macron’s policy, which showed close tendencies of anti-immigrant parties, although he was affiliated with the left.

The French Interior Minister is looking for compromises with the Algerian authorities in the case related to the deportation of Algerian nationals who are illegally on French soil, which is the issue that caused Paris to take decisions that complicated the task of visa applicants after the French side decided to reduce their number by half. According to a decision issued by the French Interior Ministry, which was revealed in September 2021, and caused aggravation of bilateral relations, as is well known.

The Algerian side considered reducing the number of visas granted to Algerians is not supported by legal justifications, refusing to treat its nationals in the same way as its neighbours, as long as this issue is governed by the agreement signed between the two countries on December 27, 1968, which allows Algerians, and not other nationals of the Maghreb countries, to benefit from exceptional privileges like residence, movement, work, study and commercial activities.

The visit of the French Interior Minister to Algeria coincided with the visit of the French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colona, to the Kingdom of the Moroccan Makhzen, after a diplomatic break that lasted for months, due to the French President’s anger at the Makhzen officials, due to their involvement in the “Pegasus” spying scandal that affected his phone and the phones of several senior French officials.

In the opinion of observers, Paris was keen to send a message to officials in Algeria, to the effect that the beginning of the normalization of relations with the Moroccan Makhzen system will not be at the expense of the strategic interests of Algeria, and this was evident through the caution that characterised the statements of the head of French diplomacy at the press conference held on Friday in Rabat, accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Makhzen, Nasser Bourita, as despite the embarrassing questions that were directed to her regarding issues of concern to Algeria, she was able to maintain the positions of her country that she had recently expressed, especially about the issue of Western Sahara.

As expected, the French minister avoided keeping up with some questions, especially those related to her country’s position on the autonomy scheme presented by the Moroccan Makhzen regime in 2007, and only talked about supporting the efforts of the United Nations and the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General to Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, in a diplomatic language that is difficult to adapt, fearing an Algerian reaction that might confuse the accounts.

It is known that France, after it was the largest supporter of the Makhzen thesis in Western Sahara, took a step back compared to Spain, even though the Makhzen regime linked the development of its foreign relations with its partners to the position on Western Sahara, which places the condition set by King Mohammed VI in his speech, on the touchstone.