Mohamed-Antar Daoud has certainly returned to Paris, but his return does not mean that everything is back to normal between Algiers and Paris. Indeed, sources familiar with the matter have, in fact, indicated that the beginning of a dialogue on which Algiers and Paris have agreed requires an official Algerian representative of the rank of ambassador to be the transmission belt.
Between the authorities of the two countries. However, it is not possible to initiate this process, announced by Jean-Yves Le Drian during his quick visit to Algiers, by maintaining the communication channels between the two capitals at the current level. Authorized sources had, in this regard, denied, a few weeks ago, that these had been completely broken, stressing that the French ambassador in Algiers was still in post and that a charge d’affaires had been maintained at the Algerian Embassy in Paris.
The return of Mohamed-Antar Daoud is part of the gradual return to normalcy, as we specified in a previous article. However, the turbulent internal French political context has changed the situation.
Algeria, France’s leading trade and economic partner in the region, with some six million nationals in France and linked to France by a heavy historic dispute, is directly impacted by the race for the Elysee Palace. The rise of the far-right, which shows its fangs a stone’s throw from the 2022 presidential election, and the spectacular advance made by the candidate Eric Zemmour, particularly up against the Algerians towards whom he nourishes a visceral hatred.
“There is no candidate apart from Emmanuel Macron to go further in consolidating our relations with France, including on the memorial dispute”, specify informed sources. “Eric Zemmour, Marine Le Pen and the extreme right-wing of the patriotic right push Algiers to pragmatism”, add our sources, who explain that Mohamed-Antar Daoud will soon resume his functions “because he is primarily concerned by the implementation work of this famous gradual normalization process which should be completed after the French presidential elections. “The French have taken the first step and they have given guarantees as to the absolute respect of the sovereignty of Algeria”, continue our sources.
Finally, according to several sources, “The return of our ambassador to Paris does not at all mean that Algeria has responded to a French request, it is a sovereign decision in line with what we want as a perspective of our unavoidable relations with the France”
