Victory for RN: French Assembly Votes To Revoke 1968 Franco-Algerian Deal

Calls to repeal the 1968 Franco-Algerian agreement have been a recurring theme in French politics, with political figures advocating its end for many years. This agreement, passed under General de Gaulle, followed on from the Evian agreements signed in 1962, at the time of Algeria’s independence, and granted all kinds of privileges to Algerian citizens.

In practice, the 1968 agreement, governed by international law, exempts Algerians from ordinary French immigration law, making it easier for Algerians to enter France. They benefit from legal entry conditions and therefore do not need long-stay visas. It enables them to obtain residence permits more quickly than nationals of other countries. Their conditions of access to family reunification are also more favourable, as are conditions to get a 10-year residence certificate.

On Thursday, October 30th, the French National Assembly held the RN’s ‘parliamentary niche,’ i.e., the monthly day granted to each parliamentary group to submit bills of its choice for consideration by MPs. Previous parliamentary niches of the RN have so far all turned into fiascos, with organised parliamentary obstruction to prevent the vote on the bills put forward by the party, including on harmless subjects or those on which there was general consensus.

This time, things turned out differently, much to the surprise of the RN MPs themselves. Their bill to revoke the 1968 Franco-Algerian agreement was adopted by 185 votes to 184. One vote was enough to tip the balance in the right direction.

The vote was made possible by a coalition bringing together the RN and its allies from the Union des Droites pour la République (UDR), the centre-right Les Républicains (LR), as well as MPs from the centrist Horizons party, which belongs to the presidential camp and is led by former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe.

“This is a victory for France, which is no longer being humiliated by the Algerian dictatorship!” said Éric Ciotti, Marine Le Pen’s main ally. The vote comes as bad news arrives from Algeria concerning the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who has been imprisoned for almost a year by the Algerian government for his critical views of the regime and deprived of medical care, despite his age and failing health. All attempts at conciliation to secure his release have so far failed.

On the Left, there is shock and consternation. Since the announcement of the vote, socialist MPs and members of La France Insoumise (LFI) have been speaking out in increasing numbers to denounce what they see as a triumph of “racism,” the end of the “Republican Front,” (ER: Hallelujah!) and submission to the “repugnant” ideas of the “far right.” Reaching for clichés, some have not hesitated to condemn “the brown plague of the heirs of the OAS and Waffen-SS terrorists.” The verbal excesses and feverishness of these statements reveal their embarrassment at a vote that is objectively democratic but contrary to an ideological line they imagined to be unassailable.

The event is significant in more ways than one: first, because it, for the first time, sends a signal that French MPs want to regain control in the face of a provocative and hateful Algerian government. Second, because it proves the possibility of achieving a right-wing consensus in a parliamentary vote on a major issue.

The centre and Left are lamenting the result, putting forward arguments in bad faith. According to some MPs, revoking the 1968 agreement would be a disaster, as it would lead to a return to the 1962 Evian agreements, which allowed free movement between Algeria and France. But this argument, intended to discredit the RN, does not hold water: the repeal of the agreement simply brings Algeria back into the common law on immigration, which means that it will finally be possible to impose restrictions on the comings and goings of Algerians, who today represent the largest contingent of immigrants on French soil.

The only real limitation of this vote is that it is not binding, meaning that the president—since he has control over international agreements—is free to follow or not follow the course set by MPs.

However, for many months now, the presidential camp has been blowing hot and cold on the Algerian question. Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, leader of the Macronist MPs, had said he was in favour of revocation but was not present in the chamber to vote on the RN’s bill. The Left has criticised the absence of Macron’s supporters during the vote, an absence that is said to have enabled the RN’s victory. However, several figures from LFI were also absent, no doubt believing that the bill had no chance of passing.