France precedes Manuel Valls’ visit to Algeria by booby-trapping the road

France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls is expected to pay a visit to Algeria in “uncomfortable situation.” This comes as Algerian foreign ministry summoned French Ambassador Bernard Emié due to a report published by Le Monde newspaper.

Valls whill arrive to Algiers on Saturday on a two-day-official visit. He will face the issue of Le Monde which published an article about Algerian industry minister Abdesselam Bouchouareb raising anger among Algerian authorities.

The French government’s position in support of Morocco in the Western Sahara issue will influence the Third Session proceedings of the Algerian-French Joint Governmental Committee. It will be chaired by Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal and his French counterpart.

The session will focus on industry, agriculture, water, environment, education, transports, interior affairs, justice, higher education, culture and religious affairs. Yet, conflicts and misunderstanding may be raised following Le Monde and the Western Sahara issues.

Observers believe that political issues will not affect the Sellal-Valls Summit according to the Business is business principle. In this case, it seems that Algeria would be the biggest looser in the so-called win-win game.

The win-win game in the Algerian-French relations does not really exist because Algeria did not benefit from those “warm” relations.

Algiers authorized French war aircrafts to pass over its air space to hit rebels in Northern Mali. Yet, Paris was not grateful as it announced its support to Morocco concerning the Western Sahara issue.

As for economy, the win-win game disappears as French car maker Renault established a big plant in Morocco. Yet, its largest sales are in Algeria compared to other African countries.