Macron Misses Another Opportunity For Reconciliation With Algeria

French President Emmanuel Macron missed another opportunity that could have been a step by the Élysée Palace to de-escalate tensions with Algeria and encourage it to respond to the overtures made by several Parisian officials in recent weeks.

The aim was to revive dialogue, which has been absent for nearly a year and a half, amidst an unprecedented political and diplomatic crisis between the two countries since their independence.

During the European Parliament’s vote on Wednesday, November 26, regarding a resolution on the agricultural agreement signed between the Moroccan regime and the European Union, the parliamentary group of Macron’s party, Ensemble pour la République (Together for the Republic) voted in favor of the Moroccan regime’s interests, aligning with the role played by Moroccan diplomacy last month at the United Nations on the same issue.

Supporters of the Polisario Front achieved a significant victory, with 359 votes in favour of labelling goods exported from Western Sahara to the European Union as not Moroccan. Meanwhile, 188 MEPs voted in favour of the Moroccan position, opposing the labelling of goods originating from Western Sahara, and 76 MEPs abstained.

Eight members of Macron’s party in the European Parliament voted in favour of the Moroccan proposal (not labelling the origin of goods). In contrast, one member, Grégory Allione, voted for mandatory labelling of goods originating from Western Sahara. These figures and details were provided by Salim Djellab, a leader in the French Socialist Party.

One member of Macron’s party, Christophe Grudler, abstained from voting. This abstention was the only vote that could have decided the outcome in favour of the Sahrawi people, if the French president’s party possessed the political will.

The Socialist Party is considered the most committed to its positions, with 11 of its MEPs voting in favour of the Sahrawi people’s interests. This contrasts sharply with Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party, which disappointed everyone. It became clear that its officials’ statements regarding the Sahrawi issue and their insistence on establishing serious relations with Algeria were nothing but a smokescreen.

Eight members of the La France Insoumise party abstained from voting, including the controversial MP of Palestinian origin, Rima Hassan, and MP Manon Aubry. This is a disappointing stance, as remaining neutral in such situations is tantamount to siding with the oppressor at the expense of the oppressed, and even betraying the party’s allies in France and Algeria as well.

The LFI party is considered the only left-wing party in the European Parliament that has failed the Sahrawi people, because the other left-wing members of the European Parliament, representing various European nationalities, have stood with the Sahrawi people’s right to defend themselves against the Moroccan regime’s plundering of their resources, with blatant official European complicity, and against the rulings of the European Court of Justice, which ruled on October 4, 2014, that the Moroccan regime has no sovereignty over the Sahrawi territories.

This vote is similar to the one that took place in the French National Assembly (the lower house of parliament) on October 30th, concerning the 1968 Migration Convention. That vote, called for by the far right (the National Rally party, formerly the National Front), saw those supporting the condemnation of the convention prevail by a single vote, amidst the deliberate absence of several MPs of the Renaissance party, founded by the French president in 2017.

Ironically, the vote last Wednesday in the European Parliament mirrored the vote in the French Parliament, where only one vote prevented the desired outcome, according to a Socialist Party leader on his “X” platform. This suggests that the French president’s camp could have achieved its objective if the abstaining member of his parliamentary group, or one of the eight who voted against the Sahrawi people’s interests, voted in favour. However, the intention appears to have been premeditated, as has been the case in previous instances.

Thus, Macron’s party group in the European Parliament has missed another opportunity to fix what can be fixed in the French position, which could be considered from the Algerian side as a step that can be built upon. However, the French have confirmed for the millionth time that they cannot be trusted, even when they are pleading to achieve a certain goal.