Immigration: what the controversial 1968 agreement between France and Algeria contains

It was March 2, 2003. Jacques Chirac was strolling through Algiers, during a protocol visit, probably the most important since the country's independence. Young women in traditional dress were shouting "youyous"... Soon drowned out by a louder rumor, that of the young men, who in front of President Bouteflika, did not hesitate to beg, shouting: "Chirac, visas, visas!"

The previous year, the French government had in fact set the number of entry permits for Algerians on national soil at 180,000. An insufficient figure for these young people who knew well that these visas were equivalent, in Algeria, to a possibility of settling in France. And this by virtue of the "Franco-Algerian agreement" , signed on December 27, 1968, in the middle of the thirty glorious years and in the context of a labor shortage.

After the attack in Mulhouse , Bruno Retailleau announced that he wanted to "change gear" and "establish a balance of power" with regard to Algeria , in particular by...