07-07-2025
De Villepin Criticizes Again: 'The Iron Fist Does Not Work With Algeria!'
Former French Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, said that the strategy of the French authorities to recover the Franco-Algerian writer, sentenced in Algeria to five years in prison, failed, because the iron fist policy that Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, tried to practice is not effective with a country like Algeria.
De Villepin, who is considered one of the brilliant French diplomats and who previously worked with former French President, Jacques Chirac, revealed a state of fragmentation suffered by decision-making institutions in Paris, calling for leaving the French President to work on the case of Sansal and journalist Christophe Glize, who was initially sentenced by the Algiers Court of First Instance to seven years in prison in a case related to terrorism.
Two currents are vying for decision-making in France: the first is represented by French President, Emmanuel Macron, and Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, who cling to diplomacy as the only option, while Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau and Prime Minister François Bayrou tend towards escalation. It later became clear that the iron fist policy adopted by Retailleau had reached a dead end.
The former foreign minister explained, wondering in an interview with the French news channel 'LCI' on Sunday night to Monday: 'Who can provide the fastest and best solution for the release of the two French prisoners from Algerian prisons? It is the President of the Republic and the government. A unified government does not do one thing and its opposite. Confusion leads to paying a heavy price. The President must be allowed to work, as he is the one who has communication with President Tebboune, and they are the ones who understand the right moment to revive the mechanism of bilateral cooperation.'
He added: 'Today there are many files on the table, and these files involve complex disputes. These issues, including the Sansal case, must be raised,' stressing that the iron fist approach cannot yield results when it comes to intertwined and complex relations such as Algerian-French relations, due to considerations related to history and the wounds suffered by one party or the other.
The French official hinted that the policy pursued by Interior Minister Retailleau is what exacerbated the situation and complicated the task of releasing Boualem Sansal, whose French attachment remains suspicious and questionable, as he only obtained citizenship for one year, in contrast to an incomprehensible silence regarding the fate of sports journalist Christophe Glize, whose prison term exceeded Sansal's sentence, which De Villepin expressed when he addressed the journalist who was only asking him about Sansal: 'We have two prisoners in Algeria, Boualem Sansal and sports journalist Christophe Glize.'
In order to resolve the tense situation with Algeria, Dominique de Villepin called for a gesture towards Algeria to reduce tension and pave the way in the coming days and weeks.
Despite the campaign against the French writer and historian, Jean-Michel Abati, when he spoke about massacres suffered by Algerians at the hands of the French occupation army, and said that they resembled the massacres of Nazi Germany, De Villepin shared Abati's opinion, and spoke about the burning operations carried out by the French General Bugeaud against Algeria in the early years of the occupation.
The journalist asked him if he confirmed Jean-Michel Abati's description of the 'Oradour-sur-Glane' incident, to which De Villepin replied, 'When we besiege Algerians and burn them, the comparison becomes possible. I grew up near the Oradour-sur-Glane area, and I weigh my words carefully on this issue,' knowing that Michel Abati had been punished for those statements by 'RTL' radio, before the French audiovisual regulatory authority issued a comment criticizing those statements as well.
De Villepin stressed: 'History must move out of the double standards. The 2005 law harmed many African peoples, as it glorifies colonial practices. We are at a time when we must respect the memory of others. Recognizing the suffering of others… A new page must be written so that what we are experiencing today with Algeria does not recur.'
