Paris - (AFP) - France aspires to establish a "renewed partnership" with Algeria after 60 years of painful relations, but it must take into account the geopolitical turmoil ravaging the western Mediterranean and the Algerian-Moroccan tensions, according to experts.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Monday that the two countries had "progress" towards a "renewed, long-term partnership" after a two-day visit to Algeria.

"France has a strong desire to find an ally" and not just a "partner" in the largest country in Africa, which has the largest army in the Maghreb, said Dalia Ghanem, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies in the European Union.

"While it has always enjoyed a special relationship with the Maghreb region, we see today Europe's influence in the Maghreb declining in favor of other parties such as Turkey and China..." she told AFP.

Former Admiral Pascal Osor, Director General of the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies, said, "If you are in the position of (Algerian) President Abdelmadjid Tebboune or his chief of staff, the world is witnessing rapid fluctuations and we do not really know where it is heading, but this matter creates chaos and violence."

"We are surrounded by fire, and we do not know which direction the wind will go, if it will push us or not. In any case, this is very worrying," he said, citing the generalized weakness of Western influence and the expansion of jihadists in the Sahel region at the gates of Algeria.

Pascal Osor said that in this context, "the psychological problem with France becomes secondary" for the Algerian leaders and heirs of a regime born of the bloody war of independence (1954-1962). He added that as to whether that would induce them to go beyond it to look at "common interests" with the former colonial power, only time would tell.

"It's a vacuum" between an old regime and a new one that has yet to be defined, said Raffaella del Sarto, professor of Middle East affairs at the School of Advanced International Studies for Europe at Johns Hopkins University. "It's very difficult to make predictions about the Middle East and North Africa at the moment because the dynamics are changing," she added.

"In the past few months, Algeria has regained its position as a major player in the western Mediterranean," said Rafaela Del Sarto. And she explained, "Several international or European parties are seeking to get close to them," such as Italy, which diversified its gas supplies thanks to an agreement concluded in July.

The European Commissioner for Energy, Cadre Simson, called on Tuesday for a "long-term strategic partnership" with Algeria, one of the "most reliable" gas suppliers in Europe, which it used to compensate for the decline in Russian supplies after the invasion of Ukraine.

Former Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya believes that "the common denominator today for all member states of the European Union is the need to consolidate Algeria's relations with the European Union."

"First, because in a moment of geopolitical upheaval, we must ensure stability in the immediate vicinity," she told AFP.

However, the open crisis between Algeria and Morocco, who have been fighting for decades over the status of Western Sahara and severed their diplomatic relations in 2021, complicates the equation.

Dalia Ghanem declared, "The issue of Western Sahara remains a thorn in the side of the European Union, the African Union, and the Arab Maghreb in particular, because it is a file that affects the future of 85 million Maghreb."

But she "believes that France does not wish to threaten its privileged relationship with Morocco" by supporting the Algerian position.

At the end of September, the researcher and delegate general of the Abd al-Rahim Bouabid Foundation warned the Moroccan Research Center for Democracy that "the Moroccans will never accept France's efforts in one way or another to appease Algeria in the Western Sahara issue."

He stressed that "Morocco's territorial integrity will not be considered simply, implicitly or explicitly, as a criterion for the relationship between France and Algeria."

Among the challenges facing the Algerian leaders, Pascal Ausur cites the "Israeli-Moroccan alliance which is a big blow to Algeria" because its military numerical superiority could be met with a "qualitative escalation".