Algerian Radio
Ségolène Royal, President of the France-Algeria Association, stated on Wednesday that she refused to participate in the report "Complément d'enquête," broadcast by the television channel France 2, describing it as "insulting" to Algeria and "politically biased."
"I refused to participate in this report, even though I was scheduled to be a guest in the 'Fauteuils Rouges' (Red Armchairs) segment at the end of the show. However, knowing the extreme sensitivity of the subject, I asked to see the film. And when I saw it, I said: there is no way I am coming to endorse and even generate viewership, because my name attracts viewers to a subject that I disapprove of and which is totally insulting to Algeria," she indicated.
In an interview granted to Algerian Television, which will be broadcast tonight on Canal Algérie, she specified that she had written via text message that the content of the report was "unacceptable."
She further remarked: "Imagine if an Algerian public television channel broadcast the same kind of report on Emmanuel Macron. Imagine what France would say. How can one conceive of such a thing? There isn't a single positive topic," she asked.
Ms. Royal further noted that the report "discredited dual-national elected officials," describing it as "shocking."
"I think the report started when Bruno Retailleau was Minister of the Interior, so that doesn't surprise me," she emphasized, believing that "it was biased."
In this regard, the President of the France-Algeria Association considered that "the objective of this report, when you really think about it, is to disqualify dual nationals." She noted that "we hear the anonymous testimony of an elected official who says she was pressured by the consulate, whereas consulates are always in contact with their nationals to energize and present a good image of their country."
"The mechanism consisting of disqualifying dual-national elected officials by injecting this little poison of suspicion of interference bears a clear signature on the one hand, and on the other, it comes two months before the municipal elections in France," she observed.
