Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Doha – Less than two weeks after summoning the French ambassador over planned military exercises with Morocco, Algeria has once again called in France’s representative, this time over what it claims are “ridiculously low rents” for French diplomatic properties.
This marks the fourth such summons in just three months, in what has become a diplomatic farce revealing the deepening crisis between Paris and Algiers.
French Ambassador Stéphane Romatet was summoned to the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, in a move widely seen as yet another desperate and erratic diplomatic stunt from Algiers.
The latest grievance centers around 61 properties that France maintains in Algeria, including the French embassy’s sprawling 14-hectare compound in the heights of Algiers, exposing what can be deemed as the regime’s own contradictions.
The endless cycle of diplomatic harassment
The frequency of these diplomatic summons has reached unprecedented levels, becoming almost a weekly ritual that undermines the seriousness of diplomatic protocols.
The ambassador’s frequent trips to the Algerian Foreign Ministry have become so routine that diplomatic circles in Algiers joke that he should establish a permanent office there.
This latest episode pulls back the curtain on a striking paradox in Algeria’s diplomatic posturing. While the regime maintains a continuous stream of anti-French rhetoric, it has simultaneously allowed France to maintain extensive property holdings at negligible costs.
The French embassy compound, spanning 140,000 square meters in one of Algiers’ most prestigious neighborhoods, operates under what the Algerian state news agency APS itself describes as “a rent so insignificant it wouldn’t cover the cost of a modest maid’s room in Paris.”
Even more telling is the case of “Les Oliviers,” the ambassador’s residence, which covers four hectares and has been rented at what amounts to a “symbolic franc” since 1962.
This arrangement, lasting until August 2023, lays bare what diplomatic sources slam as Algeria’s glaring contradiction: aggressive public rhetoric coupled with extraordinarily generous concessions to French interests.
A deteriorating relationship marked by increasing hostility
The chronology of recent diplomatic confrontations reveals an accelerating pattern of hostility. On March 6, Algeria summoned Romatet to protest the planned Franco-Moroccan military exercise “Chergui 2025,” scheduled for September in Errachidia.
The regime labeled these routine military drills, which have been conducted previously in 2022, as “an act of provocation” due to their proximity to the Algerian border.
Prior to this, on January 28, the regime called in the ambassador over alleged “discriminatory and degrading treatments” of Algerian passengers at Paris airports.
This summons, delivered by Secretary of State for Algerians Abroad, Sofiane Chaib, demanded “all necessary measures to end these unacceptable acts and practices that dishonor the French government.”
The December 15 reprimand proved particularly revealing of the regime’s paranoid tendencies, as it accused France’s Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE) of attempting to “destabilize Algeria” based on televised statements from a former jihadist.
The real stakes behind the property dispute
The current focus on property holdings masks deeper issues in the Franco-Algerian relationship. France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has taken an increasingly firm stance, declaring in a recent interview with Le Parisien that his position on Algeria is “non-negotiable,” even suggesting he would resign if his strategy were undermined by the executive.
The regime’s decision to highlight the property issue might prove catastrophically counterproductive. Sources within French diplomatic circles indicate that this could prompt investigations into the substantial real estate holdings and assets that Algerian officials maintain in France, many of which raise questions about their origins.
Moreover, the dispute stands to become a double-edged sword, potentially boomeranging back to Algeria by reviving scrutiny of the broader historical context of property rights. This includes the unresolved issues of properties seized from European residents and Jewish communities following independence, in direct violation of the Évian Accords.
A relationship in free fall
The already fragile and transactional Franco-Algerian relations, built on decades of post-colonial mistrust and calculated pragmatism, took a nosedive after President Emmanuel Macron threw his weight behind Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara in July 2024, igniting a full-blown diplomatic meltdown.
While Macron characterized this position in his October address to the Moroccan parliament as “not hostile to any party,” Algeria responded by recalling its ambassador to Paris and threatening various sanctions affecting bilateral trade.
The impact of this diplomatic crisis is reflected in recent polling data. An Ifop-Fiducial survey conducted for Sud Radio in January shows that Algeria’s standing among the French public has reached historic lows, with only 29% holding a favorable view of the country. In stark contrast, Morocco enjoys a 68% favorability rating among French respondents.
French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s observation last January that “not liking France has become a matter of domestic politics” in Algeria points to a deep-rooted flaw in the relationship.
The regime’s constant summoning of the French ambassador, rather than achieving any diplomatic objective, appears to be primarily serving internal political purposes while further isolating Algeria internationally.
As Algeria expends no energy in scaling back its diplomatic brinkmanship, it not only accelerates the deterioration of its ties with France but also inadvertently reinforces the deepening strategic alignment between Paris and Rabat – an outcome that undercuts its own geopolitical leverage.
Far from advancing Algeria’s interests, the property dispute has instead unmasked the regime’s internal contradictions, deliberately exposing its structural vulnerabilities within the French political and legal spheres.
