Socialists Thwart Right-Wing Maneuver to Target the 1968 Agreement
The plot was engineered by the right-wing movement within the Senate (the upper house of the French parliament). It occurred amid the escalating crisis between the two countries since the sudden shift in the French position on the Western Sahara issue last summer.
A Senate report led by the right-wing majority and the centrists proposed denouncing the 1968 immigration agreement. However, the French Socialist Party senator of the Seine-Saint-Denis Corinne Narassiguin became aware of this plot, concluded the repercussions of this report, was nevertheless co-rapporteur, distanced herself from the draft and decided to leave this mission after describing it as 'if it were a tool aiming to legitimize the daily obsessions and agitations of the former president of the LR group (the republicans) in the senate and current Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau', against the Algerian community.
The Socialist Party justified its refusal to participate in this endeavour by arguing that it constituted a 'provocation' against Algeria. The Socialist Party senator for the Seine-Saint-Denis region, Corinne Narassiguin, decided to distance herself from this mission. She told AFP that 'denouncing the 1968 agreement is a terrible signal sent to all Algerians and Franco-Algerians present on our territory.'
The Senate's information mission on the 1968 agreement, launched in the spring of 2024, calls on the French government to 'start a new round of negotiations with Algeria', to rebalance the regime of entry, residence and movement provided for in this agreement, which has been the subject of intense targeting for months by figures of the right and far right, led by the Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, and the former ambassador to Algeria, Xavier Driencourt.
Senator Olivier Bitz, of the Horizons party led by Edouard Philippe, former prime minister under Macron, claims that 'We must move away from the status quo. The rich and painful history between our two countries cannot justify the fact that we favour immigration of Algerian origin', referring to the 1968 agreement', while Senator Mireille Jordat, of the right-wing Republicans (LR) party, who co-prepared the project, points out that 'When we provide service, we might expect at least a balanced relationship. However the relationship is currently unbalanced and very unfavourable to France', and they propose renegotiating 'to reach balanced measures for both parties', and if this does not happen, 'the condemnation of the agreement must be implemented'.
In contrast, the Socialists, represented in this mission by Corinne Narassiguin, rejected the draft, as it only serves the theses of the Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau. The senator wrote in a press release: 'Indeed, the hearings conducted during the mission highlighted the urgency in Calais, with attempts to migration extending further and further along the Manche coast. Our priority concern should be the hundreds of people who die each year in La Manche and not the revision of the Franco-Algerian 1968 agreement. This stubbornness had no meaning and no grounds.'
Corinne Narassiguin strongly defended the continuation of the agreement, which is being fought by the right and the far right: 'The 1968 agreement remains justified due to the depth of the human and historical ties and the interweaving of economic, security and political interests between the two parties. This agreement is inseparable from the unique history that links our country to Algeria: a complex history, of which many of our fellow citizens are the heirs. It is part of a history marked by one hundred and thirty-two years of colonization – including eight years of war of independence – and six decades of winding bilateral relations… Because I refuse to allow Algerians and Franco-Algerians to be victims of the political agenda of the Republicans and the personal agenda of Bruno Retailleau, I have chosen to firmly oppose the report's recommendation regarding the unilateral denunciation of the agreement. Also, despite the clear progress that I was able to obtain on the Franco-British agreements, I have chosen to leave this cross-party mission'.
The French right, both the extremist and traditional factions, have not stopped attacking the 1968 agreement, claiming that it provides special privileges to Algerians, without any other Maghreb and African communities. However, this agreement was reviewed three times (1986, 1994 and 2001), during which Algerians lost many rights and it turned into an empty shell, as President Tebboune expressed in his last interview with the French newspaper 'L'Opinion'.
'For me, it's a question of principle. I can't go along with every whim,' he responded to a question about the calls made by several French politicians to demand the denunciation of the 1968 agreements.
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