Macron: I don't have to ask the Algerians for forgiveness
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that he will not ask the Algerians for forgiveness for France's colonization of their country, but he hopes to see his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in Paris to continue working on the memory file.
In a lengthy interview conducted by Algerian writer Kamel Daoud and published by the French weekly "Le Point" on Wednesday evening, Macron said, "I do not have to ask for forgiveness, this is not the goal. The word will sever all ties."
"The worst that can happen is to say - we apologize and each of us goes our own way," the French president said, stressing that "the work of memory and history is not an inventory of calculation, it is quite the opposite."
He explained that the work of memory and history "means acknowledging that there are things that cannot be described, things that cannot be understood, things that cannot be proven, things that may not be forgiven."
The issue of France's apology for its colonial past in Algeria (1830-1962) is at the heart of bilateral relations and the recurring tensions between the two countries.
In 2020, Algeria half-heartedly received a report prepared by the French historian Benjamin Stora, upon assignment from Macron, in which he called for a series of initiatives to achieve reconciliation between the two countries.
The report was devoid of any recommendation to offer an apology or express remorse, which is what Algeria has constantly demanded.
In his interview, the French president said, "I hope that President Tebboune will be able to come to France in 2023" to continue an "unprecedented work of friendship" after the visit that Macron himself paid to Algeria in August 2022.
In response to a question about whether this upcoming visit to Tebboune to France could include the participation of the guest president in a ceremony of honoring in front of the Algerian Emir Abdelkader monument in the cemetery of the heroes of the resistance to colonialism in the town of Amboise (southwest of Paris), Macron said that such a matter would be "a moment Very beautiful and very strong,” he added, “I hope so.”
Macron doubled the initiatives in the memory file, acknowledging the responsibility of the French army in the killing of the mathematician Maurice Audin and the national lawyer Ali Boumendjel, during the “Battle of Algeria” in 1957, and denouncing the “unwarranted crimes” committed by the French army during the massacre of Algerian demonstrators in Paris on October 17, 1961.
However, the apologies that Algeria was waiting for for its colonization never came, which frustrated Macron's initiatives and increased misunderstandings between the two sides.
Macron's trip to Algeria in August helped put bilateral relations back on track after the crisis sparked by statements made by the French president in October 2021 accusing the Algerian "military political system" of creating a "memory rent" and also questioning the existence of an Algerian nation before colonialism.
In his interview with "Le Point", Macron acknowledged the error of his statements, and said: "It may be a clumsy phrase and it may have hurt the feelings" of the Algerians, considering at the same time that "these moments of tension teach us. You have to know how to extend your hand again."
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