Emmanuel Macron couldn’t have been clearer about why he wants to boost defence spending: ‘We want to protect peace in Europe and thus deter anyone from attacking us,’ France’s president said last week. After years of hesitation, during which the Russian threat was underestimated, at least in Western Europe, it’s about time France is taking defence seriously.
Algeria’s rulers are clear on what they think of France. But Macron, who talks tough on Russia, stops short of retaliating
Macron wants to raise defence spending to 3 or 3.5 per cent of the country’s GDP, up from 2.1 per cent. But Macron’s resolute stance against the Russian threat would look more credible had it not been preceded by naive comments, bordering on cowardice, regarding another hostile regime, closer to France and with a per capita GDP half that of Putin’s Russia: Algeria.
For years, Algeria’s government has been defying France, having reneged on parts of the 1968 migration pact, by refusing to take back its criminals and illegal nationals.
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