Former French President Giscard d’Estaing’s Support for Morocco in Sahara Dispute Caused Rift with Chirac

During a lunch with Mohammed Bedjaoui, Algerian ambassador to France, on July 21, 1976, Jacques Chirac expressed his disagreement with Giscard d’Estaing. He accused him of having been too "reckless" and of having gone "too far" in favor of Morocco on the Sahara issue.

The Algerian diplomat reports Chirac’s words: "I’m not against the policy of cronyism, he explains. But it must have objective limits [...]. The Paris-Rabat phone calls, that’s fine, but not at the expense of France’s major interests. My dear Valéry here, my dear Hassan there, all that’s fine, but that’s not a policy. You must know that Giscard d’Estaing has been seduced by the king to a point that you probably can’t imagine!"

The Prime Minister confides to his Algerian interlocutor that it is GVE who directly manages the Western Sahara issue and that the latter had already received Hassan II in Paris twice without being invited to attend the reception. According to Chirac, the Élysée did not take into account his advice and recommendations to influence the "pro-kingdom policy" adopted by the French president.