French Right-Wing Obsession With Fictitious Financial Aid to Algeria

In a move reflecting the French right wing’s obsession with Algeria, the Republicans bloc in the French National Assembly proposed a bizarre amendment to the 2026 Finance Bill.

This amendment would eliminate what they termed “French development aid to Algeria,” estimated at €136 million, even though this money is essentially fictitious, as acknowledged by the French Development Agency and the Paris government itself. In reality, it was intended for students wishing to pursue their studies at French universities, serving to bolster France’s influence and language.

This unusual proposal was put forward on November 3, 2025, by Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the Republicans, supported by dozens of MPs from the Republican right wing. It sought to be included under Article 49 of the Finance Bill and stipulated the complete removal of the fictitious sum allocated to Algeria from the “Solidarity with Developing Countries” program.

The proponents of the amendment justified their move by citing what they described as “repeated insults from Algeria against France,” claiming that Algeria refuses to repatriate its citizens subject to administrative expulsion orders (OQTF). They also alleged the “arbitrary detention of the French writer Boualem Sansal for nearly a year,” despite his Algerian citizenship and the fact that he was tried under Algerian law.

The amendment memorandum stated that Algeria has made humiliating France a central tenet of its domestic and foreign policy, arguing that it is unacceptable for Paris to continue funding a hostile country with French taxpayers’ money.

The proposed amendment would completely remove €136 million, which is essentially fictitious, from the allocations under Program 209 concerning “Solidarity with Developing Countries,” and reduce it from the sub-item for bilateral cooperation.

This move once again exposes the exploitation of the Algerian issue by certain right-wing elites in France as a tool for domestic and electoral propaganda, at a time when the country is facing a severe economic and political crisis and mounting internal and external debt. It also raises questions about the seriousness of this unusual insistence and urgency from right-wing political groups regarding the issue of financial aid to Algeria, which has been proven to be false.

Last May, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs revealed, through an official document, the falsity of claims promoted by the right wing regarding so-called “financial aid to Algeria.” The document demonstrated, with figures, that these funds are never given to the Algerian state nor do they enter the national economy. Instead, they remain in France and are spent within its borders to benefit French universities and institutions under the guise of “scholarships” for Algerian students.

According to the same document, of the €136 million allocated in 2023, €128 million was spent on grants and support for Algerian students in France. This means that over 94% of what Paris provides remained within its borders and served only its own cultural and educational interests.

France justifies this spending by what it calls cultural influence and support for Francophonie and the French language as a global language, which clearly demonstrates that this aid serves a purely French agenda, through which Paris seeks to impose its language and culture and expand its sphere of influence, not to extend a helping hand to the Algerian people as is promoted in French political and media discourse, especially in right-wing and far-right circles.