Disagreements over diplomatic properties and deportations fuel the crisis between Algeria and France
The Algerian News Agency has revealed a report detailing the list of derisory rents that France pays to Algerian elites for up to 60 French diplomatic properties in the North African country, completely destroying bilateral relations.
This exclusive by the Agency came to light after the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an official statement in which the Algerian authorities confirmed that they would not accept the list of nationals resident in France.
‘The French attempt to provide a list of the names of citizens subject to deportation orders was rejected by the Algerian authorities, both in form and substance,’ the statement said.
In the report, the Agency has detailed the alleged reasons why Algeria has taken the decision not to accept the list of nationals residing in France.
After the inventory of assets was carried out, which was reviewed at all times by the French ambassador to Algeria, Stéphane Romatet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took care of communicating to the French chargé d'affaires the rejection of the list of people that France intends to deport to Algeria.
‘We consider that France cannot decide, unilaterally and individually, to review the regular channels designated for the processing of deportation cases,’ the statement concludes.
Likewise, the Agency has indicated that this revelation is just one countermeasure that forms part of the reprisals that Algeria's own Ministry of Foreign Affairs had announced in its official statement, to which France has responded without hesitation by suspending, among other things, the agreement signed in 2007 on the issuing of diplomatic visas.
This discovery, revealed by the Algerian News Agency, marks a turning point in relations, since, according to the Agency's information, this is part of the ‘close and secret’ collaboration that exists between the economic elites of the North African country and Paris, the aim of which is to obtain mutual benefits at the expense of Algeria's national welfare.
According to the Agency, among the 60 properties leased to France are the French Embassy in Algeria, ‘with a rent so low that it does not even cover the price of a service room in Paris’; and the residence of the French ambassador, known as ‘Les Aigrettes d'Olives’, whose rent has not changed between 1962 and 2023. All of this is detailed in the official report of the Algerian News Agency.
Like the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Agency has reaffirmed its rejection of the measures taken by France, and has insisted that Paris must respect the consular and bilateral agreements already established.
However, observers such as the former Minister of Culture and former Algerian ambassador to Spain, Abdelaziz Rahabi, suggest that this conflict could be linked to internal French political interests due to the proximity of the next elections to be held in 2027.
But Algeria wants to take the conflict one step further. According to the Algerian News Agency, France is using hypocrisy as a means to attack Algiers, since it is the Gallic country that is in breach of more agreements than it accuses the African nation of.
These ramblings have reactivated the case of the installation of the Renault Group factory in the city of Oran, in which, even during the mandate of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the French company took advantage, according to the Agency's report, of the state of health of the late former president of Algeria to acquire the concessions that allowed the French company to set up in Algeria, by imposing unfair conditions.
