Emmanuel Macron would have done well without this exit from his former traveling companion. In the midst of the debate on the immigration law and a few days before the official visit to Paris of the Algerian President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Edouard Philippe throws a stone into the pond: in an exclusive interview with L’Express devoted to immigration, he calls for tear up the 1968 agreement governing the entry and stay of Algerian nationals in France. “It is time to question it, judges the former Prime Minister, who continues: no national of another State benefits from such advantages”, while admitting that denouncing this agreement would pose “delicate questions in legal terms, even more so in diplomatic terms”.
This is an understatement, as the subject tenses the Algerian power. “Going back to this text would be a casus belli for Algiers, slice Pierre Vermeren, professor at the Sorbonne and author ofHistory of contemporary Algeria (New World ed., 2022). But it is one of the only weapons available to France to put pressure on its Mediterranean neighbor, which almost systematically refuses to issue the passes to return Algerians in an irregular situation from French territory.
Few right-wing presidential candidates have not tackled this taboo: Nicolas Sarkozy, Marine Le Pen, Eric Ciotti or Eric Zemmour mentioned it before Edouard Philippe. “Initially, this agreement was signed to promote the entry and stay of Algerians in France in the wake of the Evian agreements after the Algerian war”, specifies Christophe Pouly, doctor of public law specializing in the law of the ‘immigration. Their goal ? Maintain a special relationship between the two countries and facilitate the movement and employment of Algerians in France at a time when labor was lacking in many sectors.
A not so special “status”
The text notably simplifies family reunification and access to a residence permit valid for ten years. “However, the situation has changed since 1968, nuance Christophe Pouly. Over the years, the rights of foreigners have evolved, the conditions for immigrating to France have been partially relaxed. However, Algerian nationals have been excluded from most of these new systems. , such as the talent passport, which gives them the right to stay in terms of qualified professional immigration. They still have a real advantage compared to other nationalities: obtaining a one-year temporary residence permit allows them to quicker access to an authorization valid for ten years. It remains to be seen whether Algerians have more facilities than others in obtaining a first residence permit: nothing is less certain.” Since 2019, Algeria has come in second place for the issue of the first residence permits, behind Morocco, which is nevertheless subject to common law, according to the Interior Ministry figures.
“In reality, many Algerians have great difficulty obtaining a residence permit, explains Lounès Guemache, Algerian journalist and founder of the TSA site. The prefects do not hesitate to block their files.” The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, pushed them there halfway, during a meeting in October 2021 reported by The Parisian. According to the daily, the minister would have called on the prefects to ignore the 1968 agreement when examining the files of certain Algerian nationals.
“The effects of the ‘special status’ linked to the 1968 agreement are marginal today”, insists Christophe Pouly. Why does its repeal tense people’s minds so much, from Paris to Algiers? The case is above all political. For years, this text has been the subject of a shadowy battle between some French politicians and the Algerian authorities: a totem to be knocked down for the former, to be defended at all costs for the latter.
A political totem in Paris as in Algiers
“Promising the repeal of this agreement allows the French right to flatter an entire Pied-noir electorate or gravitating around military circles, which calls for a firmer policy towards Algeria, advances Pierre Vermeren. is a cheap way to annoy Emmanuel Macron, who has made reconciliation with Algeria a strong point of his presidency.
A process strewn with pitfalls: since 2017, the relationship between Paris and Algiers has experienced ups and downs… It would not take much to derail this fragile agreement again. “Algeria makes the 1968 agreement a matter of principle, it considers that France owes it a debt after one hundred and thirty years of colonization. The State is all the more attached to this ‘special status’ as a a good part of its foreign intelligence services stay in France and that the caciques of the regime want to be able to be treated there and send their children there for their studies.In addition, many have apartments in the beautiful districts of Paris and need bring their families and staff there. In short, they want to maintain the status quo.”
Abdelmadjid Tebboune will have the opportunity to remind his French counterpart when he travels in mid-June. Unless the latter is postponed, as in April, after yet another incident between the two countries…