Royal makes her first statements after her presidency of the France-Algeria-New Algeria Association

The new president of the France-Algeria Association, Ségolene Royal, recently made her first statements regarding Algerian-French relations, indicating in statements on social media that she would work “the best” she could for the sake of “friendship” between the two countries, which have been experiencing an unprecedented diplomatic crisis since July 2024.

Segolene Royal also said, just days after her election as head of the association, that her efforts in this context come as a “continuation” of what this body has been doing for fraternal relations between Algeria and France since the founding of the association in 1963, that is, one year after Algeria gained its independence from French colonialism, as a group of French figures at that time decided to establish this association in order to give an opportunity for the continuation of relations between the two countries in light of a character of friendship and civilizational coexistence.

Royal’s statements in this context came only days after a statement issued by the aforementioned association following Royal’s election to succeed the former president of this body, Arnaud Montaubourg, a statement in which the association said that it “will work with its new president (Ségolene Royal) to support the development of friendly relations and cooperation between the Algerians and the French.”

Ségolin Royal’s recent statements suggest that she is ready to undertake any mediation effort between the two countries against the backdrop of an unprecedented diplomatic crisis that began in July 2024, when French President Emmanuel Macron announced his support for the alleged “autonomy” proposal put forward by the Moroccan Makhzen regime regarding the issue of Western Sahara, which remains an issue of decolonization in accordance with international conventions.

Ségolène Royal, 72 years old, enjoys great respect among the Algerian political class due to her constant efforts to establish friendly relations and cooperation between Algeria and France, in addition to the strong criticism she directed at the French extreme right and the neo-conservative movement because of their hostile and unjustified approach towards their southern Mediterranean neighbor.

The President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, had previously praised, in an interview with the French newspaper “L’Opinion” last February, the political positions of Segolene Royal, among a number of other French political figures nominated by observers to play the role of any possible mediation in order to return Algerian-French political relations to their normal state after a stormy diplomatic crisis that began in July of the year 2024, following President Macron’s announcement of his support for the “government” formula. The alleged “self” presented by the Moroccan Makhzen regime regarding the issue of Western Sahara.

In addition, Ségolene Royal, who has a socialist orientation and ran for the French presidency in 2007, enjoys great respect in French political circles as well. This French politician had previously expressed her willingness, in statements she made last March, to contribute to any possible mediation to calm relations between the two countries, which have reached an unprecedented level of tension, especially after unjustified hostile political and media campaigns launched by the French extreme right and the neo-conservative movement against Algeria during recent periods..

Algerian-French relations were characterized by fluctuating periods between calm, apathy, and tension over the course of decades, especially since they remained burdened by the issue of memory and the issue of people’s movement, in addition to the balance of trade relations between the two countries, as Algeria wants more investments in the country and enabling Algerian goods to have greater access to the French market and from there to the rest of the European Union countries, at a time when Paris wants to focus on trade relations that entail a quick profit through unlimited opening of the Algerian market to French goods.

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