Majed Nehmé To Echorouk: “Macron To Correct Predecessors' Mistakes With Algeria”

New French President, Emmanuel Macron, will correct the mistakes that were made by his predecessors, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, based on the visit that he led during his campaign to Algeria, where he made an unprecedented statement regarding the colonial past of his country, Afrique-Asie magazine’s Editor In Chief, Majed Nehmé, said in an interview with Echorouk.

“Logic behind the relations between countries is “interest” and there are no permanent discounts or permanent friendships, but “vested interests. My perception of the French, Algerian and Moroccan relationships, although the new Elysee leader is more inclined to Rabat than Algeria, but there is an agreement that Algeria is a central and important country in French politics in the south of the Mediterranean, and on this basis it will work to correct the mistakes that France made during the rule of Sarkozy and Hollande.”

“Macron will establish a foreign policy, and Algeria will be the main party after the destruction and devastation that his country has inflicted on Libya. Africa faces the consequences of what happened in Libya, especially Algeria, because what happened in Libya will be a strong impetus from Macron to establish strong and cohesive relations. “

Nehmé, who is Afrique Asie magazine editor in chief, offers another symbol of the transformation of the Paris-Algiers axis, saying that “When Macron visited Algeria during his campaign, he was aware of the importance of this country, even inside the French territory , where there is a large and strong Algerian community. In Algeria he launched his famous statement on the crimes of colonial France against the Algerians, and his statement was not moody or circumstantial, but was made after long thought and after the appreciation of the position, even if he made it banal for electoral reasons.”

He rejects the suggestion that Paris is throwing roses at Algeria, while transferring its investments to Morocco, as happened with the Renault project. In return, the stalled negotiations with the Peugeot project in Algeria, which was expressed by the Prime Minister, Abdelmalek Sallal, when he complained of the lack of French investments in the last three years, saying; “Algeria is the largest market for foreign investment, including France. French investments in Morocco are just an aid in order to infiltrate Africa, and Algeria does not need French investments with the presence of other big countries like China.”

On the subject of Morocco’s position in addition to the Moroccan proposal in the Western Sahara issue, Majed Nehmé asserts that this has not achieved remarkable ground progress for Paris. 

“Holland said that the Western Sahara file is in the hands of the United Nations. Of course, France supports Morocco and protects its colonial policies, but it does not recognize joining the Western Sahara, and France will be subject to the decision of the Supreme Court of the European Union, which considered Morocco and Western Sahara as separate territories, and pursuant to this decision the French respectable companies will not invest in those territories, which means that Morocco will finance its colonization with its own financial resources”.