France’s Diplomatic Balancing Act: Mending Ties with Algeria Without Alienating Morocco

"Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Algeria from August 25 to 27 was invested - even over-invested - with particular importance by the Élysée and part of the French media. Since the beginning of his first term, Emmanuel Macron has made the Franco-Algerian reconciliation a personal matter. But in doing so and for many observers, the French president has allowed himself to be trapped in the memorial trap and in the rhetoric of resentment, which has become the essential axis of Algerian foreign policy when it touches on France. To the point of dangerously neglecting other possible, and more fruitful, alliances in the region," analyzes Laurent Gayard, a teacher and columnist for the Revue des Deux Mondes, the Revue Phébé, the Causeur Magazine and the Revue Conflits in a column published by Le Figaro.

According to him, if energy and security needs condemn France not to neglect Algiers, nothing forces it, in the name of its Algerian policy, to disdain the other possible alliances in the region, and in particular that with Morocco. "Unlike Algeria, extremely ambivalent, Morocco is a historical ally of the West. [...] With 3,500 kilometers of coastline, Morocco is the only African country to have both an Atlantic and a Mediterranean facade, and the policy of Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, who came to the throne in 1999, is resolutely turned towards the consolidation of Moroccan influence in Africa, but also towards strengthening ties with the various European and American powers," notes the author of Géopolitique du Darknet.

For Laurent Gayard, Paris has an interest in warming up its relations with Rabat. "Relations between France and Morocco have certainly had their ups and downs, and we will remember the cooling of relations between the two countries at the beginning of François Hollande’s term. However, Rabat has many assets to offer, of which other powers than France have become more clearly aware: its political stability, the diversification and dynamism of an economy where the tertiary sector already plays a major role, as well as the diplomatic recognition enjoyed by the kingdom." "By wanting to bet too much on Algeria, France runs the risk of favoring circumstantial alliances to the detriment of its credibility in the region. It is therefore important that Emmanuel Macron, in his quest for memorial reconciliation and energy security, is not tempted to sacrifice Rabat for Algiers," concludes the columnist.