The Algerian Question in France’s European Aspirations (1957-1962)

When European officials negotiated the Treaty of Rome (signed 1957), the French secured the agreement of their European partners that the treaty’s wording would include Algeria, which was still considered a juridical department of France. Despite this initial agreement, it was not clear to European officials exactly when or how Algeria’s inclusion might impact the territory. Thus, in the years between the treaty’s signing and the independence of Algeria, French officials continued to press their European counterparts to understand a version of inclusion that would implement trade, aid, and labor policies theoretically beneficial to French Algeria and to the indigenous Algerian community. One of the most contentious issues was labor, as Italian officials stalled talks that they feared would lead to competition between their own unemployed citizens and “Muslim elements” from Algeria. This paper addresses those debates and the assumptions European officials brought to the negotiating table. Further, it contends that French pressure on the other members of the Six to accept such a policy is symptomatic of a larger French strategy of internationalizing its Algerian crisis by including the warring territory within the nascent European Economic Community.