Paris pushes with one of its diplomatic weights in Algeria

It’s official. Mr Xavier Driencourt has just been appointed Ambassador of France in Algeria to replace Bernard Emié. It should be noted that Xavier Driencourt has already held this position between 2008 and 2012.

This is the second appointment to an identical post in Algeria, after the appointment in 2000 of Hubert Colin de Verdière who was recalled in 2002 to the General Secretariat of the French Quai d’Orsay before the end of the three usual years, and then again appointed to Algiers in 2004.

On his departure in May 2012, Xavier Driencourt made a positive assessment of his diplomatic mission in Algeria, despite some “tensions” experienced by the Algerian-French relations just after his arrival in Algiers. 

He advocated the need to “rethink and refound” relations between the two countries. The risk between Algiers and Paris is that bilateral relations “become trivialized”, as he then put it.

Paris considers, according to the French media and many observers, Algeria as one of the most important capitals in the world in terms of the size of its vested interests there as well as the heavy historical legacy existing between the two countries.

*The Algerian Government grants approval

The Algerian Government has approved the appointment of His Excellency Mr Xavier Driencourt as Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the French Republic to the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Foreign affairs Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.