The French Unleash Their Former Ambassador to Attack Algeria

El Chorouk

09-07-2025

Xavier Driencourt, France's former ambassador to Algeria, has reappeared in right-leaning French media outlets. The retired diplomat made two appearances on consecutive days, which suggests that this 'giant' has been freed from the shackles he was believed to have been bound by during the undeclared truce unilaterally observed by Paris, in an attempt to win over Algerian authorities to release the Franco-Algerian writer, Boualem Sansal, who is serving a five-year prison sentence in Algeria.
For many weeks, the retired diplomat, who worked in Algeria twice (2008 and 2012), and (2017 and 2020), had not made any media appearances. This 'disappearance' coincided with a remarkable calm in French political and media circles regarding their dealings with Algeria, including those with right-wing leanings.
This leads one to believe that the man received signals from decision-makers about the necessity of staying out of the spotlight.
Xavier Driencourt, in an interview with French radio station 'Europe 1' on Wednesday, July 9, reiterated his inflammatory statements against Algeria, calling on his country's authorities to adopt a 'iron fist' policy. These statements were expected from him, as his frequent media appearances have become synonymous with attacking Algeria.
According to the author of the books 'The Algerian Enigma' and 'Double Blindness,' Algeria has succeeded in taming French arrogance, despite the threats issued by more than one official in the administration of French President Emmanuel Macron.
Here, Xavier questioned the threat issued by French Prime Minister François Bayrou last February, when he said that his country was giving Algerian authorities six weeks to settle the issue of Algerians who had been ordered to be expelled from French territory. However, to date, after nearly five months, none of what Bayrou promised has materialized, while Boualem Sansal remains imprisoned.
According to Driencourt, Algerian authorities derive their strength from the weakness of French authorities, reiterating the demand for taking certain measures that have proven to be ineffective in subjugating Algerian authorities, who act based on defending their sovereign rights, and according to the same logic that the French defend, which is the independence of justice.
Before appearing as a guest on 'Europe 1' radio, Driencourt, who suddenly transformed into a theoretician for the far-right regarding Algerian-French relations, had previously appeared as a guest on 'Le Figaro Live' online, where he also attacked the silence of French authorities regarding the continued imprisonment of Boualem Sansal.
The retired diplomat criticized French circles that are futilely trying to instill hope in the supporters of the Franco-Algerian writer that he will be released soon, each time. He pointed here to the initial clinging to the possibility of overturning the court's sentence at the level of the Algiers Judicial Council, but the decision upheld the sentence.
Then, hope shifted to a presidential pardon on the occasion of the double anniversary of Independence and Youth Day. Now, there is talk these days about the possibility of a pardon for Sansal for health reasons, as he is ill. When that does not happen, attention will turn, as Driencourt said, to next November, and so on.
Xavier Driencourt expressed his disappointment at the lack of European support for the French position on the Sansal case, noting that Noëlle Lenoir, the head of the so-called International Committee to Support Sansal, contacted European Union officials to rally support for her cause, but she heard from them statements such as Brussels awaiting concrete action from Paris before taking action, which he considered a negative stance.
The current French position on the Sansal case resembles what Spain experienced more than two years ago, when the Madrid government rushed to appeal to the European Union for support against the economic sanctions imposed by Algeria on Spanish companies at the time. However, it did not receive any support.
In fact, countries like Italy and Spain, both EU member states, exploited the situation and entered into an exceptional partnership with Algeria (in the case of Italy), making Rome the exclusive distributor of Algerian gas in Europe, after Madrid had spent billions of euros to prepare the infrastructure to play the same role.