Diplomacy operates under the constant pressures and challenges of ongoing crises between states. Yet, diplomatic actions and interactions are meant to be conducted with art and manners to seize opportunities and let realism dominate over idealism. The diplomatic tension between Paris and Algiers, fed by the far-right corporatist media, elites, political pundits and leaders, has taken a different turn. The unfair and unbalanced analyses provided by the far-right media – across 24/7 news networks, radio, print and social media in France – are having an influential impact on Paris’ unrealistic foreign policy toward Algiers.
A clumsy public relations campaign led by the rising star of the far-right in France, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, uses this hysterical campaign for his presidential ambitions in 2027. He positions himself as the tough cop in the fragile François Bayrou government, taking a strong stance in the “war” on illegal immigration, drugs and “radical” Islam – a catchy political selling point aimed at far-right voters.
Retailleau, in his quest to be the real tough cop, neglects Algeria as a sovereign country. The dispute over Algerian influencers on social media, coupled with the thorny issues of colonization, the Algerian War, the Western Sahara dispute and the friction over the arrest of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal in Algiers last fall, compounds the tension.
Retailleau’s decision to deport Algerian citizen and influencer Boualem N., who legally resided in France, became a fiasco after Algiers sent Boualem N. back to France. This diplomatic setback was quickly described on social media as a “blow” to France akin to Hussein Dey of Algiers’ dismissal of the French diplomat on April 30, 1827. The return incident was narrated by Algerians on social media, with French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau declaring that Algeria was seeking "to humiliate France" following the failed deportation of one of its nationals.
The interior minister, alongside his far-right media backers, elites and politicians, has used this diplomatic episode to transform the nature of this diplomatic tension, which had already existed since the election of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in December 2019, into a permanent provocation and more of a blackmail tactic.
As a “retaliatory” measure in the ongoing diplomatic standoff between Paris and Algiers, Justice Minister Gerald Moussa Darmanin (of Algerian descent) wants to end the agreement allowing high-profile Algerian authorities and their relatives to travel to France without a visa.
There was an agreement between Paris and Algiers in 2013 that permitted those with an official (diplomatic) passport to do so – there are thousands of such individuals, according to the French minister of justice. The December 1968 agreement between Algeria and France governs the movement, employment and residence of Algerian nationals and their families in France. The first amendment to the 1968 agreement was signed in 1985, marking the beginning of the gradual erosion of the 1968 agreement.
To promote the idea that France has many cards to twist Algeria’s arm, the 1968 agreement has become a form of blackmail. However, in this context, the Algerian authorities are in a better position. The far-right in France rejoiced at the idea that the 1968 agreement worked to France’s advantage, much like French zealots inside the far-right who influenced decision-makers at the Elysee Palace and Quai d'Orsay, shaping France’s Algeria foreign policy, as it was in the '80s and '90s.
Most Algerians are either unaware of or indifferent to this special “treatment” agreement, as they do not want their leaders to be blackmailed at every diplomatic tension between the two countries. Algeria in 2025 holds stronger cards, such as energy resources, the migration issue, intelligence cooperation and coordination with Paris in its “war” on terror in the African Sahel. Additionally, approximately 3 million Algerians live in France legally, including dual citizens and permanent residents. In 2019, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) counted 846,400 Algerian immigrants residing in France.
These Algerians are fully integrated, contributing to France's economy, politics, social services, education, science, health care, sports and cultural development, creating a new multicultural paradigm in 21st-century French society. This is the origin of the hysterical campaign inflamed by the far-right media, elites and politicians over the past two decades.
Relations between France and Algeria are a two-way street. France is no longer considered a paradise destination by many Algerians. Well-off Algerians can travel to other European countries, such as Spain, Italy, Germany and the U.K., or cross the Atlantic to the U.S. and Canada. Gulf countries have also become popular destinations for Algerians. The general population increasingly travels to Türkiye for tourism, business, study and medical care.
As for the blackmail fantasy used by the far-right media and their ideological politicians to pressure Algeria, 40 million Algerians stand fully behind their authorities, facing the xenophobic campaign led by far-right visionaries in Parisian media. A vast majority of Algerians would be glad to see the end of the 1968 agreement. The far-right ignores the fact that, with this agreement, France was rebuilt through the labor of hundreds of thousands of Algerians – whether in the automobile industry, mining or agriculture in the 1970s, which helped France enjoy its glory years.
In conclusion, this frenzy against Algeria has revealed the collapse of responsible politics in France, the rise of amateurish journalism and the decline of French diplomacy and its moral prestige. France’s diplomacy is no longer influential in world politics, with an ideologue interior minister caught between playing the tough cop and aspiring to be a wise diplomat – roles that should not be embodied by a weak foreign affairs minister who does not measure up to his predecessors, such as Roland Dumas, Hubert Vedrine and Dominique de Villepin. Diplomats’ noble mission is to settle conflicts and crises, walking the path of mutual respect and appeasement. Diplomacy needs diplomats.
