On Monday, October 5, Ségolène Royal, a French politician, said she "cannot say" whether the Algerian regime is authoritarian. The comment came during an interview with France Inter, where she was asked to evaluate the nature of the Algerian government. While she acknowledged "a number of problems" in Algeria, she said it was not her place to politically label the country. When pressed by journalist Benjamin Duhamel, she repeated that she could not define the Algerian regime as authoritarian, stating that such a determination should be left to the Algerian people. Royal then shifted the conversation to France, asking, "If you heard Algeria say, 'look at what is happening in France, it is not an authoritarian regime to put handcuffs on 14-year-old children?'" She was referencing student protests in France that led to confrontations with law enforcement. When questioned about this comparison between Algeria and France, she clarified that she had not made a direct comparison but urged caution about the visibility of events in other countries. During the interview, Royal was reminded of the arrest and imprisonment of Algerian writer Boualem Sansal for nearly a year and the continued detention of French journalist Christophe Gleizes in Algeria. Despite this, she again said she "cannot say" the Algerian regime is authoritarian. She pointed out that France also has its own problems, noting that it holds an Algerian consular agent and questioned whether that was wise. She also asked if the Pope would have visited Algeria if it were as described. Royal suggested that it would be "intelligent" to restore diplomatic relations with Algeria to gain access to its natural resources, particularly gas. She noted that European countries have signed an agreement on green hydrogen with Algeria and emphasized the importance of maintaining good relations with neighboring countries, including Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and the broader Maghreb and African regions.