The President of the Republic, who is on an official visit to Algeria, “made us waste time” on the question of gas, according to the rebellious leader.
The words are chosen on purpose as the links and history between France and Algeria are complex and very sensitive. While Emmanuel Macron has been visiting Algeria since Thursday, Jean-Luc Mélenchon did not hesitate to strongly mock this trip in the face of the energy issues that France and Europe are experiencing. If the Head of State recalled on Friday the “low weight of gas in the energy mix” French and the thin Algerian imports, the rebellious leader, he rebukes the positioning of Emmanuel Macron. “The Italians, they listened to Mélenchon. So they went there. They discussed with the Algerians and they bought gasbegins by launching Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Before taking to task the few journalists who were in front of him on the sidelines of his party’s Summer Universities.
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«And now the gas, where is it please? Is there still enough for us to have? No, here it is!», Loads the former candidate for the presidential election. For Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Emmanuel Macron “wasted our time because basically he has an overbearing mentality. So either he apologizes for having dominated or he begins to dominate again.Algiers very recently announced a new increase in its gas deliveries to Italy, of which it became the leading supplier ahead of Russia after the start of the war in Ukraine. What force, according to him, to rethink the strategy of France in relation to its former colony. “It is necessary to start from a simple idea: it is equality. The Algerians have interests, they have a government. We don’t get involved. And we French people have interests, we have a government and we get involved because it’s our home. And we discuss with the Algerians on an equal footing.»
A “renewed, concrete and ambitious partnership”
In this regard, Emmanuel Macron will sign on Saturday “a joint declaration” with his counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune. A “renewed, concrete and ambitious partnership”, according to the Elysee. Thursday, the President of the Republic had evoked a history between the two countries which “has never been easy». Et “which is and will remain, because we want it to be, a story of respect, friendship and, dare I say it, love”. Since the start of his five-year term, Emmanuel Macron has tried, with ups and downs, to “reconcile» the memories between France and Algeria, marked by colonization, but also by the war between 1954 and 1962. During his first mandate, the President of the Republic had also requested a report from the historian Benjamin Stora on these issues. Recommendations given to him in January 2021. A way for Emmanuel Macron to catch up with the controversy he had sparked during his first presidential campaign by describing colonization in Algeria as “crime against humanity”.
