He has no desire to "escalate" and does not want to resort to "one-upmanship" or fuel a "crisis." But can French Prime Minister François Bayrou achieve anything other than a freeze in relations between France and Algeria?

At the end of an inter-ministerial committee meeting on immigration control – the first since 2011 – on Wednesday, February 26, Bayrou tried to keep both sides happy. But his comments to the press were nonetheless an ultimatum to the Algerian authorities, against a backdrop of diplomatic tension that has been brewing for several months.

If, within "four to six weeks," France finds that the expulsions of Algerians cannot be carried out successfully, then the bilateral agreements governing the residence of Algerians in France will be "called into question," the head of government explained at a press conference. He was surrounded by four ministers, two from right-wing Les Républicans (LR), and two more markedly from the center, as if to symbolize the tenuous balance he is trying to embody. While the French government "has only one position," as Bayrou said on Monday, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau of LR is pushing for a standoff with Algiers, while centrist Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot is advocating a "particularly powerful lever" – the reduction of customs duties for cooperating countries.

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