French Senate’s President Adopts Calls For Re-Examining the 1968 Agreement

In a manner that seemed to be tightly arranged, the demand to review the 1968 agreement for the movement of persons between Algeria and France reached the official level, with the confirmation of the President of the French Senate, Gerard Larcher, to adopt the desire to review the controversial agreement by the political and media class in France.

French Senate’s president Gerard Larcher, who is elected in the right-wing “The Republicans” -Les Républicains- party, said in an interview with France Inter radio that “55 years” after the signing of this agreement that regulates the entry, residence and employment of Algerians in France, “circumstances have changed,” adding that it is time to re-examine it.

The President of the Upper Chamber of the French Parliament explained; “The agreement (concluded) with Algeria must be reconsidered,” in line with Edouard Philippe’s calls, former French Prime Minister in the first term of the current President, Emmanuel Macron, in the interview with the weekly newspaper “L’Express”.

However, Gerard Larcher regrets that the former prime minister did not embody what he is calling for these days, “in 2018 when he proposed a text to regulate migratory flows that ultimately did not affect regulating migratory flows,” asking: “Why did he refuse to respond (in that time) to the proposals made by the majority in the Senate to regulate migration flows about labour migration and family reunification”?

For Gerard Lacher “the need for a real migration policy” aims to “control and direct flows and facilitate integration policies,” at a time when the current government, led by Elisabeth Borne, wants to pass the migration law this fall, knowing that the Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, is preparing a draft law in this context, in parallel with another right-wing project previously announced by The Republicans -LR- party Chairman, Eric Ciotti.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who carries the text, is awaiting the right’s support and vote. He is due to meet Gerard Larcher on Wednesday afternoon to recall the “red line” set by his party, which is the creation of a new residence permit for the jobs in tension; “We do not support the automaticity” of such a system for jobs intense, Gerard Larcher confirmed.

The statements of Gerard Larchie as President of the Upper Chamber of the French Parliament means that there is a strong tendency within the institutions of the French state to support the option of revising the 1968 agreement with Algeria, which is criticized by many French politicians and media known for their right-wing tendencies, but the decision remains in the hands of the French president, who seems to be suffering from deep state pressure to make him adopt a hard line with Algeria, close to the upcoming visit of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to France before the end of this month, according to unofficial reports.

Observers of Algerian-French relations believe that the French are facing a real dilemma in succeeding to achieve their endeavour, because the 1968 agreement is considered superior to ordinary laws according to international legislations, and this is what makes its review subject to the approval of the Algerian party, which does not intend -at all- to sit at the negotiating table regarding this matter.

French party justified this endeavour by not subjecting Algerian nationals to French immigration law, since the agreement transcends the law in international norms, and therefore any unilateral decision is considered null from a legal point of view, which put the French in an unenviable position, knowing that one of the justifications they also raise is seeking to make Algerians equal with other foreigners, with an excuse that seems unpalatable.

Gerard Larcher is considered the first French official to delve into this issue after the matter was previously limited to retired diplomats (the former ambassador to Algeria, Xavier Driancourt), the leader of the right-wing opposition and the president of the Republicans, Eric Ciotti, and prominent officials of the extreme-right, currently the “National Rally”, the National Front formerly, led by Marine Le Pen, and during the past week, the former Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe.