French Interior Minister, Right-Wing Figures Resume Escalation Against Algeria

After a cautious calm, marked by the lack of anti-Algerian media outings led by the French Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, the concentrated targeting of Algeria by French officials and non-officials has returned to the forefront, on more than one front, especially illegal immigrants and the imprisonment of the French writer, Boualem Sansal.

As usual, the French Interior Minister spearheaded this targeting, but other figures emerged by sharing one thing in common: hostility to Algeria and an attempt to undermine its interests, in addition to their ideological and political background.

Here, we refer to the President of the Association of Mayors of France and Mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, who was elected within the ranks of the right-wing Republican party (LR), to which Bruno Retailleau belongs.

The president of the French Mayors Association went too far in attacking Algeria, calling on the French authorities to close the Algerian consulates on French soil, in a statement that is not based on any legal or diplomatic justification, because strict diplomatic norms govern the consulates.

David Lisnard’s remarks came in an attempt to pressure the Algerian authorities to release the French writer of Algerian origin, Boualem Sansal, who has been imprisoned since mid-November, due to hostile statements targeting Algeria’s territorial integrity.

The mayor of Cannes spoke about the need to “create a balance of power” with Algeria saying that France must take a more firm stance in the face of the legal decisions taken by the Algerian authorities, especially those concerning figures with dual nationality. He stressed that “the nation has to defend its citizens” about Boualem Sansal, a principle he considers fundamental in managing international relations.

In this regard, an event was held in France to demand Sansal’s release, and his lawyer, François Zimeray, who is banned from entering Algeria due to his positions in support of the Zionist entity at the expense of Palestinian rights, tried to soften his tone towards the Algerian authorities, saying that “this stand is not directed against Algeria, but rather to support Boualem Sansal’s steadfastness in prison.”

Sansal’s lawyer, a French diplomat of Jewish origin and a fierce defender of Zionism, who previously served as ambassador to Denmark, had tried to visit his client in Algeria, but the Algerian authorities refused to grant him a visa, in line with their firm positions on activists who support Zionism. Meanwhile, right-wing French media sources, including “Marianne” and “Le Figaro”, reported that Sansal was required to change his lawyer, who was rejected by Algeria. It is worth noting that the local lawyers’ organization had allocated three lawyers for him at its expense.

The French Interior Minister did not fail to keep up with this escalation, as he tended to reduce his media appearances after the dialogue conducted by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune with the French newspaper “L’Opinion”, which included phrases and positions that were understood as a call for the French side to calm down, followed by instructions to Retailleau to stop delving into Algerian-French relations, which remain the exclusive powers of the Elysee Palace (the French presidency) as well as the Quai d’Orsay (the French Foreign Ministry), which was personally confirmed by Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and the French government spokeswoman, Sophie Primas, in press statements.

In his new statement, the Interior Minister threatened to punish Air Algérie with “retaliatory measures” due to its refusal to transport Algerian deportees from France because they do not have consular permits from the Algerian consulates located on French soil, as happened with the influencer “Boualem” and other cases after him, all of whom were returned on board the planes that brought them from France.