Morocco World News with Maghreb Intelligence
Morocco World News with Maghreb Intelligence
Rabat, December 8, 2012
At the Elysée, François Hollande’s advisers are very concerned about his visit to Algeria on December 19 and 20. They already accepted a stopover in Oran and Telemcen on El Mouradia’s (Algeria’s Presidential Palace) request.
The French President would have preferred to limit his visit to Algiers, where he would like to meet with President Bouteflika and members of the government. His advisers, who know that on the political side the visit carries a high risk on the question of Mali, as well as France’s colonial past, wanted to put economic issues forward.
The Elysee is said to have pushed for several contracts to be signed during his visit to Algeria. A way for François Hollande to sugar the pill for the French public opinion, scalded by the concessions that could be made to the Algerian authorities.
