Tebboune on expectations for state visit to Paris in May

Bilateral relations between Algiers and Paris - complicated since Algeria's independence in 1962 - have been at the top of the French agenda since September 2021, when President Macron accused the "political-military" system in Algiers of benefiting from a "rent of memory [against France]" regarding the colonial era and the war of independence, and questioned the existence of an Algerian nation before French colonisation. 

These statements ended up triggering one of the worst diplomatic crises between the two powers in the last 15 years. Algeria withdrew its ambassador from Paris and banned French aircraft from flying through its airspace to resupply troops in the Barkhane operation in Mali. For its part, France - in an attempt to pressure North African governments to readmit their nationals deported from French territory - halved the visas it granted to Algerian citizens (as it did for Moroccan and Tunisian nationals). French-Algerian diplomatic relations remained interrupted for several months after the escalation of tensions. 

But in August 2022 - coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the end of the Franco-Algerian war and Algeria's proclamation of independence - President Emmanuel Macron travelled to Algeria. The meeting between the two leaders resulted in the 'Algiers Declaration' for a "renewed partnership of friendship" which, in the words of the Elysée tenant, was an impulse "towards youth and the future". The Algerian authorities, in the same vein, understood Macron's visit as "the will to encourage a new vision based on equal treatment and a balance of interests". 

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, several EU countries have shown interest in relying on Algerian gas to reduce their energy dependence on Moscow, placing Algiers in the position of a potential partner. "The European Union and France are not our adversaries", Tebboune said in an interview with Le Figaro on the state of energy relations with Paris, "so if France asked us to increase gas exports, we would do it". 

And although the French president has tried on more than one occasion to distance himself from rumours of his interest in Algerian gas, during the August 2022 visit, the head of energy giant Engie, Catherine MacGregor, was part of the delegation accompanying him. 

Now, following the improvement in relations, the Algerian president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has announced his intention to travel to Paris - on an official state visit - in May to continue what Macron described (in an interview for Le Point) as "an unprecedented work of friendship". Tebboune explained, via an official statement from the presidential office, that his French counterpart contacted him by phone to "exchange congratulations on the occasion of New Year's Day, wishing both peoples to continue on the path of progress and prosperity", after inviting him to visit France. 

However, the announcement does not seem to have been well received in French official circles, which see this rapprochement as tacit approval of the Algerian regime. Both in terms of its domestic policies (repressing its detractors) and its international orientations (Algeria has on several occasions defended its "non-aligned" nature on issues such as the war in Ukraine, as it has close political, economic and military ties with Moscow). 

However, statements made by both leaders to Le Figaro and Le Point already pointed to plans for Tebboune to be handed over to his French counterpart in the coming year. The Algerian president explained to Le Figaro his intention to visit France in 2023, alluding to the "complicity" and "reciprocal friendship" with Macron, and affirming that he sees in Macron "the incarnation of a new generation that could save relations between the two countries". The French head of state, for his part, also expressed his wishes for Tebboune to make an official visit to Paris, saying that "it will be meaningful for the history of the Algerian people. For the French people, it will be a great opportunity to understand realities that are often hidden'.  

According to President Macron's hints to Le Point, the official agenda of the meeting is expected to intersperse Tebboune's official meetings with several tribute ceremonies in front of the monument of Prince Abdelkader, a symbol of Algerian resistance against French colonisation, in the cemetery of the town of Amboise. "It would be a very beautiful and very powerful moment," the French president said when asked about this possibility. 

However, the announcement comes after Macron's plea that he refuses to "apologise" to Algerians for the colonisation process, although he says he wants to continue working with Algiers on mutual reconciliation and the preservation of historical memory. The work of historical memory "is not a calculation, it is the opposite. It is to recognise that there are things that cannot be described, things that cannot be understood, things that cannot be proven and things that cannot be forgiven", he told Le Point.