Return of Old Faces to Bayrou Government Threatens the Interests of the Algerian Community

The new government in France headed by François Bayrou has retained one of the pariahs of the leftist majority, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who kept his ministerial portfolio despite being rejected for his far-right positions too close to the National Rally party led by the Le Pen family, known for its bitter hostility to Algeria and its interests in France.

During his few months as Minister of the Interior in the government of Michel Barnier, which failed in the recent vote of no confidence, Bruno Retailleau demonstrated his abhorrent hostility to immigration and migrants, and did everything to please the far-right circles through his statements focused on revising the immigration agreement signed between Algeria and France in 1968, which gives Algerians urban privileges in more ways than one.

The reassigned French Interior Minister is the ugly face in the government of François Bayrou, known for his moderation, but it seems that the balance of power resulting from the recent legislative elections forced him to install Bruno Retailleau  in his position, in an attempt to flirt with the far right and then win the votes of its members in the National Assembly (the lower chamber of parliament) early next month, during the confidence-building session.

Bruno Retailleau adopts many positions and proposals close to the far-right National Rally party, especially those related to immigration, restrictions on Muslim communities and absolute support for the brutal and barbaric massacres of the Zionist entity in the Gaza Strip, which are completely contrary to what Algeria is looking for, which would increase the existing tensions between the two capitals, if Francois Bayrou’s government succeeds in continuing after more than a week, which would increase the level of tensions between the two capitals.

Bruno Retailleau is not the only one poisoning Algerian-French relations, as there are other equally bad faces that have returned to the government formation. This is the case of former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, a leftist in name only because of the crises he created with Algeria when he was in charge of the government under former French President François Hollande, although the portfolio he holds (Minister for Overseas Departments) has no contact with Algerian interests.

It is also worth mentioning the return of former Interior Minister Gerald Moussa Darmanin, of Algerian origin, to the government, but through the gate of the Ministry of Justice, and the background here lies in the desire of the Francois Bayrou government to find coordination between Darmanin and the anti-immigration Interior Minister, in order to coordinate between the two supervising ministries on the issue of immigration, knowing that Darmanin’s reign at the Interior Ministry witnessed a serious escalation against immigrants, as many of them were expelled outside the framework of judicial decisions.

In addition, the return of former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne as Minister of Education, a very sensitive portfolio given the presence of thousands of Algerian nationals studying in French schools, noting that Borne, although she belongs to a party belonging to the center, her positions are usually closer to the right.