French Confusion In Handling The Ongoing Crisis With Algeria

On Wednesday, January 22, 2025, Algeria was mentioned several times by two senior French government officials, government spokesperson Sophie Prima and, as usual, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was also present, confirming that the French have indeed contracted a disease called “Algeria mania.” In addition, the French government spokesperson, Sophie Prima, made press statements calling for calm between the two countries.

Sophie Prima, the French government spokesperson, also came out with press statements calling for calm between the two countries: “No one has an interest in an escalation between France and Algeria.” She emphasized the determination of François Bayrou’s government to ‘restore its relationship with this country to the level of other countries,’ in statements consistent with those made on more than one occasion by her colleague in the government, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.

Although the spokeswoman for the Matignons tried to absolve their governments of responsibility for the worsening crisis by blaming Algeria for the Boualem Sansal case, she called on the Algerian authorities to respond to the initiative launched by the French foreign minister to allow him to visit Algeria in order to dismantle the mines that are poisoning bilateral relations.

Unlike Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who has been described as a “firewood carrier” for his relentless efforts to inflame the crisis between the two countries, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barro has called on Algerian authorities on more than one occasion to allow him to visit Algeria in order to seek solutions to the worsening crisis, but the Algerian side has refused to respond to these demands, expressing that the crisis has reached the point of no return, according to the French government spokesperson.

In this regard, the French government spokesperson said that the French foreign minister offered to go to Algeria to discuss with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in order to calm the tension with Algeria, but the French side’s lack of commitment to correct the mistakes it made since last summer (Macron’s decision to support the Moroccan regime in the Western Sahara issue), made the Algerian side reject any dialogue with Paris.

On the same day, the French Interior Minister gave a lengthy interview to L’Express magazine, in which Algeria was present in almost all the questions he was asked, indicating the extent of the obsession that Paris suffers from because of Algeria, as he listed all the initiatives that Macron has undertaken on the level of memory, but he did not find the required response.

As if sticking his head in the sand, Retailleau ignored the responsibility of the French side, which can only be denied by a patient or obsessed with a disease called Algeria. He completely ignored the French position of complicity with the Alaouite regime in Rabat, the issue that blew up bilateral relations and was the reason for recalling the Algerian ambassador from Paris half a year ago and reducing diplomatic representation to the lowest level (chargé d’affaires).

“Since the nice way was not enough, it seems to me that we must now examine all the means at our disposal to put the relationship back on track,” said Retailleau, but the issue is that there is no interlocutor on the other side (Algeria), according to the French interior minister. Paris has left Algeria with no recourse because of its persistent targeting of Algeria and its geopolitical interests in the Maghreb region.