The French Authorities Play The Appeasement Card With Algeria

The French authorities have played the appeasement card in the face of the political and media debate that has erupted since the announcement that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had signed a decree extending the cases of singing the Algerian national anthem in full, including the passage threatening France with accountability for its terrible colonial crimes in Algeria.
The official French position that accompanied this debate was expressed by the French Minister for European and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, who briefly dispelled the clouds that were said to be clouding the sky of Algerian-French relations, based on a targeted French media campaign against Algeria and its interests in the former colony.
In an interview with the private French television channel LCI, Catherine Colonna, with remarkable diplomacy, questioned the credibility of the suspicious analyses, particularly in the French media, which had begun to speak of a decision hostile to the French state, stressing that it was only a question of extending the cases of singing the Algerian national anthem, “An oath” (“Kassamen”) in exchange for her country’s willingness to assume its historical responsibility in Algeria.
The head of the French diplomatic service commented on this issue, showing understanding for the circumstances in which the Algerian national anthem was written in 1956, in the context of the war against brutal French colonialism, which perhaps justifies the use of those strong phrases that move emotions and motivate.
In fact, despite the journalist’s attempt to bait her into taking a stronger stance on the Algerian decision by reciting the passage threatening France with the Day of Judgment, and asking her if she thought this was acceptable in the anthem of a foreign country, the French official calmly replied: “Even our (French) national anthem (La Marseillese) contains warlike content, even if the name of a country is not mentioned in it”.
She pointed out that the French anthem speaks of “pure blood”, which is considered a form of racism in a country that sanctifies the values of fraternity, freedom and equality.
However, Catherine Colonna did not miss the opportunity to express her astonishment at the Algerian authorities’ decision to choose this moment to reopen the debate on the controversial song in her country, which, in her opinion, belongs to a bygone era, unlike the current situation, which is marked by the rapprochement between the two presidents, Abdelmadjid Tebboune and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, as she puts it.
And to dispel the doubts about the future of Algerian-French relations, and behind them the forthcoming visit of President Tebboune to Paris in the coming weeks or months, in the face of the desperate campaign waged by French right-wing circles, known for their hostility towards everything Algerian, as well as President Tebboune’s visit to Russia last week, which, as we know, coincided with a visit to Paris expected in the second half of this month, the French Foreign Minister praised the decision of the presidents of the two countries to “give a strong impetus to bilateral relations. ”
As far as the head of French diplomacy is concerned, the forthcoming visit of the President of the Republic to France is still on the agenda: “The two countries are preparing for President Tebboune’s next visit to Paris, the date of which has not yet been set,” says Colonna, contrary to what some French media are claiming.