The Missing Link In The Relations Between Algeria And France

On the eve of the fourth meeting of the Algerian-French high-level joint follow-up committee due to be held in Algiers, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is slated to embark soon upon several official visits to Maghreb countries, including Algeria.

 Mr. Edouard Philippe, will visit Tunisia and Morocco early next month, according to the French daily “Le Monde”, but without mentioning the source of a similar visit to Algeria according to the announced agenda, thus raising outstanding questions about the real nature of relations between Algeria and France .

The Secretary-General of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Maurice Gourdaut Montagne, on an official  visit to Algeria was received by Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia.

Mr Ouhahia was conveyed on the occasion a written message from his French counterpart Mr. Edouard Philippe.

Later in the day, Mr Maurice Montagne co-chaired in Algiers with his Algerian opposite number, Mr Nourredine Ayadi, the proceedings of the fourth meeting of the Algerian-French High level inter-Governmental joint Committee.

No senior French officials have visited Algeria since the election of the current president, Emmanuel Macron, last May, despite the promises made to this effect by the French side, according to the messages exchanged between the presidents of the two countries and with President Macron in particular.

In contrast to the tradition established by former French presidents, such as Nicolas Sarkozy and then François Hollande, current President Emmanuelle Macron preferred to reconsider this tradition by visiting Morocco, a move which was considered a retreat by President Macron from his declared will to shore up the Algerian-French bilateral relationship, which have become known since 2012, as the “exceptional partnership”.

This annoyance was compounded by the fact that Macron had visited Algeria when he was campaigning for the presidential contest. 

This visit was officially welcomed, and this welcome was reflected in Algeria’s implicit invitation to the Algerian community members residing in France to vote for Macron, with former foreign minister, Ramtane Lamamra, dubbing then Mr. Macron as a “friend of Algeria”, on the eve of the elections in France.

Despite the continuation of the Algerian-French relations in terms of projects previously established, marked by the visits of officials of the two countries of the “second level”, the bitter rift created by the visit of former French Premier Manuel Valls to Algeria seems to be not still forgotten and perhaps this is evidenced by the jubilant official responses on the French side that followed the French official’s “betrayal” on Twitter at the time, a belief that cannot be confirmed or dispelled by President Macron’s delayed visit to Algeria, which remains a mystery and which needs  to be unraveled .