Macron Reminds Retailleau of the Limits of His Maneuver in the Crisis With Algeria

French President Emmanuel Macron intervened for the second time to impose his powers on some hardline figures in François Bayrou’s government, led by Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, the far-right, who has made attacking Algeria his daily bread, in anticipation of the presidential race for his party “The Republicans” (LR) next May.

Within four days, the French President intervened for the second time, to respond to his Interior Minister, Retailleau, who adopted the logic of “balance of power” in the crisis with Algeria. This time, Macron preferred to respond to Retailleau on the same day his Interior Minister appeared in the newspaper “Le Figaro”, where Macron rejected the threatening approach, which Algeria had previously rejected in its entirety and threatened a harsher response if it happened.

According to Le Figaro, the French President confirmed in an exclusive communication that he rejected his Interior Minister’s demand to cancel the 1968 agreement regulating immigration between the two countries. He stressed that delving into this issue is within his exclusive powers, a new challenge to the Interior Minister, Retailleau, who is pushing towards the dangerous deterioration of bilateral relations.

On Monday, the French Interior Minister appeared on BFMTV and RMC with provocative statements, in which he claimed to have prepared a list of hundreds of people who had been issued with expulsion orders from French territory, and threatened to punish Air Algérie and the maritime transport company, as if the matter were that easy, because the Algerian side would respond harshly targeting the French companies involved, and even many other interests on the national territory.

Although Macron’s slap also targets Prime Minister François Bayrou, whom he chose to assume this position, the slap primarily targets the Interior Minister, who many observers believe is the one who dragged the Prime Minister to talk about deadlines and threats towards Algeria, following the meeting of the ministerial committee devoted to the immigration file last Wednesday.

Contrary to the French Interior Minister’s words, the tone of his country’s President Macron was more inclined towards easing tensions, which he described as “pragmatic”, as he denied allegations that Algeria refused to receive its citizens deported from France, and said that the numbers he has indicate that Algeria is ahead of its neighbours in the Maghreb, referring to Tunisia, the Kingdom of Morocco, and the Republic of Mali in receiving its nationals.

Last Friday, while Emmanuel Macron was visiting Portugal, he said in press statements that he refuses to unilaterally review the 1968 agreement because it is “meaningless”, a statement that was considered by the French media as an insult to the prime minister and the interior minister, who adopts a hostile position towards Algeria, reflecting the positions of the French far right.

The same source said that the French president rejects the logic of the “balance of power” promoted by his interior minister, and there is now talk of two axes pulling the French position, the first led by the president and foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, on the one hand, and the prime minister, François Bayrou, and the interior minister, Bruno Rotayot, on the other hand.

Although the political scene in France appears to be this way, there are those in Algeria who consider it a mere exchange of roles between a French authority trying to continue to confront sharp political and ideological divisions, confirmed by the fragmentation that was established by the recent legislative elections.

In light of this division, voices emerge from time to time in France warning against the consequences of continuing French provocations towards Algeria, including the mayor of Marseille, Benoit Payan, who warned in an interview with the newspaper “Liberation” against the consequences of a rupture and called for dialogue between the two countries.

The mayor of Marseille fears the repercussions of a possible rupture on the economic life of the city of Marseille, which has the largest port in France, as it will be significantly affected by the volume of its activity with Algerian ports, which increased by 12% in 2024, considering Algeria the beginning of a large bridge towards the African continent.