Former French Ambassador Gives A Poisonous Advice to Algeria

Special advice was given to the Algerian authorities, hiding a lot of deceit, by the former French ambassador to Algeria twice, Xavier Driencourt.

This advice hides a lot of deceit regarding the camp Algeria will rely on, especially the one that will protect its interests in the post-French legislative elections, which are expected in two stages on June 30th and July 7th.

Based on the advice he provided in the form of an approach, the French diplomat appears to be someone who is putting poison in honey, even if he tries to justify this approach by analogy to previous cases at a stage in Algerian-French relations.

An observer of the electoral debate in France these days may notice an attempt by Xavier Driancourt to undermine the relationship with Algeria, through its community in France, with the leftist camp (the New Popular Front), whose most prominent figure is Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is fiercely confronting the far right, led by the family of Marine Le Pen, who runs the “National Rally” party, the heir to the extremist “National Front”, which was founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen, in the 1970s, along with symbols of the terrorist organization the Secret Army Organization (OAS).

In an article that came in the form of a contribution to the newspaper “Le Figaro”, the main platform for the right and far-right in France, under the title: “Algeria is worried about the French elections”, he explained that the best that Algerian-French relations experienced was during the era of the “moderate right” figures among them are the “Gaullists”, in reference to the late French general and president, Charles de Gaulle (1959/1969), whom the extreme right accuses of neglecting French Algeria, due to his sitting at the negotiating table with the interim Algerian government, and surrendering to the option of independence under military pressure.

The retired diplomat also believes that “Giscardinism,” referring to the late president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who established stable relations with Algeria during his presidential term 1974/1981, while he believes that the period of rule of the Socialist President, François Mitterrand (1981/1995), was bad in terms of relations with Algeria, thus giving the impression that the leftist camp capable of defeating the far-right led by Le Pen’s family party, may not be the best for Algerian interests.

But what remains of the moderate right, which Xavier Driancourt considers historically better for France’s relations with Algeria?

In France, there is currently no moderate right. There is only one right, the far right, which opinion polls present as the camp most likely to win the snap legislative elections, and thus the possibility of leading the next government, represented by Le Pen’s family party.

Even if Driancourt was talking about the “Republicans” LR party, which is considered a metaphor for the Gaullist trend, it was dispersed after the shock it received in the European Parliament elections. Its president, Eric Ciotti, allied himself with the Le Pen’s party, which is currently led by Jordan Bardella, and Ciotti was expelled from his party, and the status of the party is still unclear as it enters the legislative elections with fragmented lists, and its chances of winning the upcoming legislative elections are almost non-existent.

So why did the former Algerian ambassador promote better relations between Algeria and France during the era of the moderate right, which has become virtually non-existent?

All surveys of opinions and political analysts indicate that the only camp capable of confronting the far right camp is the left camp, which falls under the banner of the “New Popular Front,” while the president’s camp of Emmanuel Macron, known as “Ensemble” (Together), is far from defeating the far right. At least, given that it ranked third in the recent European elections, far from the far-right and left-wing camps.

And because all readings indicate that Algeria has bet on the leftist camp, through the repeated messages of the Dean of the Paris Mosque, Chams-Eddine Hafiz, warning of the dangers of the far right’s arrival at the Government Palace (Matignon), and its reception of some icons of this movement in the mosque and at dinner banquets, noting that the dean of the Paris mosque had recently visited Algeria and was received by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Therefore, what Xavier Driancourt wrote is nothing more than a distraction against the Algerian community and the efforts undertaken by the dean of the Paris Mosque, who is mobilizing to block the far right with all available electoral means.

This reading may become clearer when some media and political platforms close to the far right say that the former French ambassador to Algeria will be among the strongly nominated figures to take over the foreign ministry, if the far right wins the upcoming legislative elections, especially since Driancourt is considered one of the theorists of this movement, along with the far right, strongly calling for a review or cancellation of the 1968 migration agreement with Algeria.