Accompanied by fifteen ministers, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne arrived in Algiers on Sunday for a visit intended to give “new and concrete impetus” to the reconciliation initiated in August by the presidents of the two countries. The head of government was greeted by her counterpart Aïmene Benabderrahmane when she got off the plane. “The time of misunderstanding is behind us,” she told the Algerian site TSA before her trip.
Elisabeth Borne will begin her visit with memorial gestures like President Emmanuel Macron during his visit at the end of August which, after months of tension, has helped to warm relations between the two countries. She will lay a wreath at the Monument des Martyrs, a high place of Algerian memory of the war of independence (1954-1962) facing France, as well as at the Saint-Eugène cemetery in Algiers, where many French people born in Algeria are buried. .
A “renewed partnership”
Prelude to Elisabeth Borne’s trip, Emmanuel Macron spoke on the phone on Sunday morning with his counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune, again pleading for the realization of the “renewed and ambitious partnership”, according to the Elysee. However, nothing is expected during this two-day visit on the sensitive issue of the memory of colonization and the Algerian war.
The French and Algerian presidents announced in August the imminent installation of a commission of historians from both shores, but it is “still in the process of being set up”, according to Paris. The head of the French government will meet and have lunch on Monday with President Tebboune, who had concluded with Emmanuel Macron on August 27 a “renewed partnership” around six axes which remain to be concretized.
“Towards concrete projects”
Elisabeth Borne will chair before Sunday, with her Algerian counterpart, the meeting of the fifth high-level intergovernmental committee (CIHN), the last edition of which dates back to 2017, where it will mainly be a question of “economic cooperation”. The holding of the CIHN in itself “is already a step forward” in the political dialogue, welcomes Hasni Abidi, director of the Center for Studies and Research on the Arab and Mediterranean World (Cermam) in Geneva.
The CIHN must be concluded by the signing of “agreements”, which will not necessarily be business contracts and will relate to training, energy transition, economic cooperation, youth and education, as well as the sovereign. It is for Paris to give a “new impetus” to the Franco-Algerian relationship “towards concrete projects”. However on the other delicate question of visas, “the discussions have not yet succeeded”, said Matignon on Thursday.
At the end of August, the presidents of the two countries paved the way for a relaxation of the visa regime granted to Algeria, in exchange for increased cooperation from Algiers in the fight against illegal immigration. This question has poisoned the bilateral relationship since France halved the number of visas granted to Algeria, which was deemed not prompt enough to readmit its nationals expelled from France.
Gas is not on the agenda
On gas, the visit of Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by the president of Engie Catherine MacGregor, had generated a lot of expectations on deliveries of Algerian gas to France, in the context of a scarcity of Russian gas in Europe. This file “is not on the agenda” of the visit, according to Matignon. Elisabeth Borne told TSA that she would “nevertheless continue to develop our partnership in this sector with Algeria, particularly in terms of LNG, and to increase the efficiency of its gas production capacities”.
Élisabeth Borne took with her only one large group, Sanofi, which has an insulin factory project, and four SMEs: Générale Energie, which plans to build a plant for recycling and processing olives; Infinite Orbits, which has a project for the first Algerian microsatellite; Neo-Eco, which works on the treatment of waste such as asbestos, and Avril, which specializes in the processing of cereals.
For its part, Business France, a public structure responsible for international investment, is taking several dozen companies to the Franco-Algerian Business Forum, which will be inaugurated on Monday by the two Prime Ministers. Another axis of the visit, the youth, that Elisabeth Borne will meet Monday at the French high school then at the embassy, with representatives of Algerian civil society. “If it is not a question of memory, or security, or our supplies, what is the use of a trip of such magnitude? Asked Friday the deputy of the right-wing opposition (LR , The Republicans) Michèle Tabarot.