Between France and Algeria, imbroglio around commercial relations

Algeria denied on November 7 media reports of a breakdown in commercial relations with France, reports the Algerian news site All about Algeria (TSA). A denial which does not, however, dispel the open crisis between the two countries, particularly since France's recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara and the recent visit, from October 28 to 30, of President Emmanuel Macron to Rabat.

“The fact that such an extreme measure [la rupture des relations commerciales] being the subject of a persistent rumor is an unmistakable sign of the degree of deterioration in the relationship between France and Algeria,” écrit TSA, who also believes that the “rebalancing” of French policy in the Maghreb is inexorably the result of the rise of the extreme right in France.

Algiers, which recalled its ambassador from Paris four months ago, has still not designated a replacement. The appeasement gesture launched on 1^is November, the anniversary of the outbreak of the “Algerian revolution”, by President Macron, who recognized France's responsibility in the assassination of Larbi Ben M'hidi, a figure of the Algerian resistance, changed nothing in the situation