Nour Chahine
modified to
09:04, August 26, 2022
Emmanuel Macron arrived Thursday August 25 in Algeria. During a first speech, the Head of State announced the creation of a commission of French and Algerian historians on colonization and the war in Algeria. A step towards the appeasement of relations between the two countries but which does not really reassure the Algerians about the intentions of the president.
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived Thursday, August 25 in Algeria, for a three-day visit. He was welcomed by his counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune. What do the Algerians think of this trip by the French head of state? And what do they expect? Europe 1 went to meet them. Under a blazing sun, Samar, in her twenties, is waiting for a taxi that is slow to show up. Algiers is bottled up because the plane of the French president has just landed. A visit purely interested, according to the student.
“It’s really difficult for us to get a visa”
“Macron is not there for the beautiful eyes of Algeria, but for the gas, for its interests, for the interests of Europe”, she protests at the microphone of Europe 1. Above all, the visa issue remains a concern for Farid. He has already suffered two refusals, he who wanted to find his cousins in France. “I have friends in France, I have family in France. I really hope that the visa procedures will ease up in some way because it is really difficult for us to obtain a visa for the France. For us, the Algerians, it’s a bit of a hassle”, he confides.
“Macron rocked by denying the existence of the Algerian nation”
“You shouldn’t expect miracles,” says Amid, in his fifties. Politics will continue to weigh heavily on Algerian-French relations, he predicts: “Like all former French presidents, Emmanuel Macron still has to do with lobbies. We saw it during the elections, how Macron nevertheless turned his back after having committed crimes of humanity to colonization. He completely changed his mind by denying the very existence of the Algerian nation”.
There are therefore very few expectations, but hope, on the Algerian side, to see relations with France calm down, just to move quickly to a constructive stage.