Targeting the 1968 Agreement: An Obsession Inherited by the “French Algeria” Godfathers

Targeting the 1968 agreement under the pretext of combating immigration from Algeria is a baseless claim, as immigration from Algeria has been controlled for decades and is no longer a problem, French political scientist Eric Savarese said.

Savarese added that the real objective is for the far right and its supporters to create a fictitious enemy, finding none other than Algeria, which has become a historical obsession for them.

In an opinion article published in the French newspaper Le Monde on Saturday, November 8, titled “Why the Focus on Algerian Immigration, Even Though it Has Been Contained?”, Éric Savarez expressed his astonishment at what he called “the almost obsessive focus on Algerian immigration, despite its containment.” He explained, “This is where the constant invocation of the Algerian issue becomes apparent,” particularly by far-right circles and other politicians who share their views, such as the Republican right.

The professor at the University of Perpignan asked, “Under these circumstances, why do we condemn, through the resolution adopted on October 30 (the French parliamentary resolution denouncing the 1968 agreement), a text that helped regulate the flow of Algerian immigrants to France?” Savarese pointed to the complexes some French people harbour regarding Algeria: “For the far right, which is keen to create an internal enemy—whether Jewish, immigrant, Muslim, or Algerian—there is an ideological connection to French Algeria.”

He then addressed the circumstances surrounding the creation of the extremist National Front by Jean Marie Le Pen in 1972, and how this political party, from that moment on, became a haven for those nostalgic for French Algeria and other former members of the terrorist OAS (Secret Army Organization), which was deeply involved in the bloodshed of Algerians and French citizens, expressing its rejection of Algerian independence.

Eric Savarez expressed his surprise at what he called the “constant invocation of the issue of Algerian immigration to France.” He believes that the parliamentary debates held in recent decades on this subject reveal deep political divisions within French society. He noted that the controversy surrounding the 1968 agreement, regularly fueled by former Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, head of the Republicans party, is not new. However, what is unprecedented in the French political landscape is the adoption of a text (the 1968 agreement resolution) proposed by the far-right National Rally party.

According to the professor of political science, the aim of the 1968 agreement was, from the outset, to regulate Algerian immigration to France. In 1962, Savarese explained, the Évian Accords stipulated freedom of movement between France and Algeria, allowing the Pied-Noirs (French settlers in Algeria) who wished to return to Algeria to do so. However, they did not return, and the French authorities quickly concluded that, under these circumstances, Algerian immigration could become uncontrollable. Hence, the 1968 Accords, which, in France’s favour, limited the annual entry of Algerians to 35,000, subsequently reduced to 25,000, while guaranteeing Algeria’s right to choose which Algerians would immigrate to France each year.

Eric Savarese asserted that the 1968 agreement came about in the “post-Algerian France context,” and that the objective, from the French perspective, was to limit Algerian immigration. Therefore, he added, it has nothing to do with the “hateful terms of the far right, ‘invasion’ or ‘massive wave of immigration’. The real objective is to limit the arrival of Algerian workers in France, a measure later reinforced by visa requirements and, more generally, by highly restrictive immigration policies.

Furthermore, the French authorities enacted the immigration law on December 19, 2023, Savarese explained, which restricted social benefits for immigrants, in line with the wishes of the far right. The votes of the National Rally MPs and the Republicans contributed to its passage, thus confirming the closure of immigration channels.

The expert on Algerian-French relations concludes that “the Algerian issue remains a contentious matter in French society and political life, specifically on the left, between the old guard involved in sending troops to Algeria, and those who entered the political arena in opposition to the Algerian war and colonialism, and then, on the right, between the old Gaullist barons opposed to the terrorist Secret Army Organization, and the newcomers who passed the law of February 23, 2005, glorifying colonialism, who cultivate anti-Arab racism, who only obtained French citizenship in 1958, that is, only four years before independence.”