Macron again encourages Tebboune to visit Paris

On Sunday morning, French President Emmanuel Macron called his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, "to present his congratulations on the occasion of Eid El-Fitr (end of Ramadan)," according to a communiqué from the Algerian presidency.  But above all to discuss "bilateral relations and ways of strengthening them, in particular the state visit of the President of the Republic to France", the same source added. 

A week after the phone call from the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Attaf, to his French counterpart Catherine Colonna, announcing the surprising Algerian decision to cancel Tebboune's visit to Paris scheduled for 2 and 3 May, Emmanuel Macron picks up the phone and calls the tenant of El-Mouradia on the pretext of congratulating him on the feast of Eid El-Fitr to relaunch the idea of this state visit, which is taking on Mexican serial proportions. 

It should be noted that never before has a French head of state congratulated a king or a president of a Muslim state on the occasion of a Muslim religious holiday. Macron, like his predecessors, has never done so with either Bouteflika or Tebboune. If he does so now, it is only to justify his phone call, the sole purpose of which is to renew the invitation to a state visit that was unilaterally cancelled by the Algerian side, as a French source recently reminded Le Monde.

In the grip of Morocco, which withdrew its ambassador in Paris on 19 January, and distanced from Tunisia since the latter got bogged down in a political crisis that has led to a serious economic crisis, France has lost a lot of ground in the strategic North African region. Even Libya, where it played an important role in the fall of the Gaddafi regime, is now outside its influence. What is left for France in an area that was once under its dominance? 

Macron has much to do with France's isolation in a region considered, until very recently, its private domain. That is why he is now desperately clinging to an Algeria whose turpitudes have made him see all the colours. The withdrawal of the Algerian ambassador to Paris twice in less than 18 months speaks volumes about the fragility of relations between the two countries, especially on the Algerian side. 

France knows it can always keep Algeria as a lifeline for several reasons, the most important of which is Algeria's isolation on the international stage. An isolation that Paris exploits to maintain control over its former colony, whose leaders are as unpopular at home as they are abroad. 

The military-political regime in Algiers, as Macron described it in October 2021, needs French support, after suffering an embarrassing affront from Saudi Arabia, which cut Algiers out of the process of Syria's return to the Arab League, This was followed by another setback on the African scene with the appointment of Moroccan diplomat Amina Selmane as AMU's permanent representative to the African Union and the resounding failure of last November's Arab summit in Algiers, boycotted by all the Arab Gulf rulers.

Paris and Algiers are, in a sense, a couple who have been dropped all over the place and whose members are forced to work together despite their differences. 

And for the official visit to take place as Macron wishes, consideration should be given to inviting the leader of those really in charge in Algiers, army general Saïd Chengriha, as Tebboune reportedly whispered to Macron during their telephone conversation. Thus, the inadequacy of the dossiers and agreements, the decontamination of the nuclear test sites during the 1950s, and the archives will no longer be discussed. 

As for the social protest used as a pretext by the Algerian media to justify the cancellation of the 2 May visit, there is nothing to say that a solution will be found by June. However, if General Chengriha takes part in the trip, no one in Algiers would be able to cancel it.