The Prime Minister begins this Sunday, October 9 a visit to Algeria to give a “new impetus” in relations between Paris and Algiers. “We have to see if this will finally be built on well-understood interests of each other”, observes on franceinfo Kader Abderrahim, director of research at IPSE.
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Barely a month and a half after Emmanuel Macron’s visit, Elisabeth Borne, supported by around fifteen ministers, begins a two-day visit to Algeria this Sunday, October 9, with the intention of concretizing the relaunch of dialogue with Algiers. . “We have to see if it will not be a flash in the pan and if this bilateral relationship will finally be built on the interests well understood by each other.“, tempers on franceinfo Kader Abderrahim, director of research at IPSE (Institute for Prospective and Security in Europe), lecturer at Sciences Po.
franceinfo: Was it necessary for so many ministers to travel to Algeria?
Kader Abderrahim: It is a signal of what France intends to give to the relaunch of this new relationship. The will is there but we have to see if it will be sustainable. We have to see if it will not be a flash in the pan and if this bilateral relationship will finally be built on the interests well understood by each other.
There have been many disagreements between the two countries. Do you think this is forgotten?
I don’t know, but in terms of diplomacy it’s important to have memory and at the same time to have the ability to overcome obstacles, otherwise you’re always stuck and you don’t move forward. Given the situation, we are all in a particular historical momentum given the war in Ukraine and its repercussions on Europe and the Maghreb in general. Everyone must now refocus their concerns to assert their interests. Both are in the process of understanding that it is necessary to seal new partnerships so as not to be totally marginalized.
Many Algerians did not experience the Algerian war. What image do they have of France?
Overall, we must be quite lucid on the French side of the fact that the massification of the Arabic language has placed the French language in the background. The question is to know how this soft power can be declined today in a context which has nothing to do with that of the 60s and 70s when there was not much effort to be made. Today, there are new offers, an extremely important Chinese presence, a Turkish presence on the commercial level. The English language is trying to dethrone French. So I think it’s going to be about all of that.