It is expected to be seized later by far-right candidates to irritate the French
father-in-law
Former French Ambassador to Algeria, Xavier Driancourt
Xavier questions the loyalty of dual nationals to the French state
As usual, the former French ambassador to Algeria, Xavier Driancourt, chooses sensitive times to raise toxic topics and issues that provoke political debate in France, which are always picked up by well-known political figures on the right and extreme right, which, as is known, feed on issues in which Algeria is a party.
In his latest “outburst,” Xavier Driancourt raised a “sedition” that is expected to be exploited by figures running for the French presidential elections expected in the first half of next year, such as Marine Le Pen, Edouard Philippe, and Bruno Rotayo, who have previously revealed their electoral programs, a large part of which is based on targeting Algerian interests and its community.
In his contribution, on Wednesday, to the right-leaning “Le Journal du Dimanche” platform, he touched on “dual nationality,” but he did not generalize the idea to all dual nationals of other nationalities. Rather, he focused only on dual nationality Algerians, in a deliberate attempt to stimulate debate about Algerians alone, in a political scene characterized by tension between various political factions.
In order not to appear, in the eyes of observers, to be biased against Algeria due to his previous history of being obsessed with “Algeria-phobia,” he tried to hide behind a new development, represented by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently publishing recordings of the Evian negotiations between Algeria and France, which, as is known, led to the demarcation of Algeria’s independence and the establishment of the rights of each party’s nationals for the post-1962 period.
Through his poisonous contribution, the retired French diplomat drew the attention of the candidates for the presidential elections in his country to the fact that Algeria is being strict with regard to dual nationals, by refusing the entry of some of them, as he claimed, unlike France, which shows great leniency in this context.
He wrote: “We have recently seen Algeria refuse entry to its territory to some French-Algerian dual nationals. In contrast, France seems to be quite open in its recognition of dual nationality. For the French-Algerians, this duality poses problems of an ethical or practical nature: Do they feel that they are French first? Or do they prefer to be Algerian, as the presence of many Algerian flags at football matches might suggest?”
Here, the former French ambassador quotes, based on documents published by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, related to the Evian Agreements, which took place between the head of the Algerian delegation, Karim Belkacem, and his French counterpart, Louis Goux, during the tripartite negotiating session, on May 25, 1961. The French thesis revealed: “France considers that minorities (Europeans in Algeria, after independence) who wish to continue settling in Algeria must be Algerian citizens, But France also wants them to maintain French citizenship, provided that they enjoy full rights in Algeria like other Algerians, just as France does not want to withdraw citizenship from Muslims who want to be French, such as Harki in particular.”
Xavier Driancourt also reported the response of the head of the Algerian delegation, Karim Belkacem, to the French thesis presented by the head of the delegation, Louis Juix, in which he stated that “dual nationality could apply, on behalf of the French, to Algerian Muslims. He says that Algeria opposes this possibility, while France accepts its legal consequences.”
Driancourt asks: “Will citizens be able to exercise their rights in Algeria and France at the same time?”, before answering based on the French Foreign Ministry’s document: “With regard to France, it will exercise the rights of French citizens in France, and the rights of Algerian citizens in Algeria. As for the French nationality granted to Algerian Muslims linked to France, it will entail that they will not be treated as foreigners in France, as French nationality will, in fact, be an embrace nationality.”
Meanwhile, Karim Belkacem responded by saying, “The French in Algeria will be forced to link their fate to the Algerian nation, and Algeria will be a welcoming homeland for those who will choose Algerian nationality. As for the others, that is, those who do not want to integrate into independent Algeria, they will remain French, but they will have to live in Algeria with the status of foreigners.”
Regardless of what the former French ambassador to Algeria wants to market in terms of allegations, from his position as a right-wing and far-right ideologue in everything related to relations with Algeria, he wants to create a new strife between the two countries with dual nationality as its subject, just as he tried earlier with the 1968 agreement, which has become at the top of the issues raised by right-wing candidates in their electoral programs for the upcoming French presidential elections, and it is expected that this issue will turn in the coming days into an issue in political debates between the candidates.
