Algerian-French Relations Enter A Dark Tunnel!

The statements of the Minister of Communication and the official spokesperson of the Government, Ammar Belhimer, exposed the French authorities’ hypocrisy, who pretended to support the Algerian authorities in public, but they concealed their hatred by mobilizing European bodies and NGOs to insult Algeria, hoping to force it to adopt certain agendas.

Belhimer’s statements came a few days after the European Parliament issued a non-binding resolution, which criticized the human rights situation in Algeria, and it was the list that was met with blanket rejection by the official authorities, the Algerian political class and civil society actors, with certainty that it was the outcome of geopolitical calculations, according to the minister’s approach.

Belhimer openly accused France of standing behind the European Parliament’s malicious resolution, as he said that Algeria is being subjected to “a gushing barrage of attacks coming from France,” and explained that “these attacks take place through several channels, namely the European Parliament and NGOs, as well as social networks and their Parisian influencers”.

The “exit” of Minister Belhimer also coincided with a statement issued by the National Secretariat of the National Mujahideen or War Veterans’ Organization, which included an unprecedented scathing attack on the French President, Emmanuel Macron, due to his interference in the internal affairs of Algeria, as well as his refusal to apologize for the appalling crimes of the hideous French colonial past, a burning issue which he promised to resolve when he was a candidate in the French presidential elections, nearly three years ago.

The Government spokesman expounded dozens of evidence of French involvement in the European Parliament list, which means that the Algerian position was preceded by strong documentation and a careful study of the future of the relationship with Paris, whose review has become more than necessary to restore the lost balance in it.

What was stated by the Government spokesperson is the first official and public statement from a high-ranking official in the Algerian state, directly criticizing the French authorities, and it is also interesting to note that it came a few days after the French president announced his support for President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who is now in a recovery period after suffering a health ailment.

With the Algerian side resorting to public criticism of the former colony, this means, among other things, that “the cup has overflowed” and that relations between Algeria and Paris have reached a stage of deterioration, very similar to that which they experienced more than a year ago, as they reached the point of the French authorities questioning the integrity of the presidential elections that brought President Tebboune to the El Mouradia Palace, and the ensuing repercussions, were marked by summoning the Algerian Ambassador to Paris in May of this year.

The future of Algerian-French relations has reached, according to observers, a dark tunnel, and that the French side bears responsibility for that.

Agreement no longer exists owing to the divergence of views on some regional issues, such as the Western Sahara issue, the Libyan file and the intricate crises besetting the Sahel region.

Algeria’s internal affairs, in addition to the inherited outstanding problems, such as the repercussions of the somber French colonial past, and the dire restrictions imposed on the Algerian (Muslim) community … and what comes from such “hypocritical” positions sometimes and often hostile, does not deserve to be promoted to the level of a friendly country according to international norms.