French President Emmanuel Macron has officially suspended a 2013 bilateral agreement that allowed holders of Algerian diplomatic and service passports to enter France without a visa, citing a growing climate of mistrust between Paris and Algiers amid escalating tensions over migration, diplomacy and judicial matters.
In a letter to Prime Minister François Bayrou, Macron confirmed the formal suspension of the visa waiver deal, marking a significant deterioration in Franco-Algerian relations.
The move follows a series of high-profile disputes, including reciprocal expulsions of officials and heightened friction over sensitive legal cases.
At the heart of the French government’s concerns is the recent imprisonment in Algeria of Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal and French journalist Christophe Gleizes, sentenced to five and seven years respectively.
Macron also condemned Algeria’s decision to suspend consular cooperation from its 18 diplomatic missions in France, as well as its continued refusal to issue consular travel permits required for the repatriation of Algerian nationals living in France illegally.
The French President is invoking provisions from the 2024 immigration law, specifically the “visa-readmission leverage”, which empowers France to restrict visa access for diplomatic and service passport holders from countries deemed uncooperative in migration matters.
He has instructed his ministers to intensify targeted deportations of undocumented Algerians.
Through these measures, Paris aims to pressure Algiers into restoring a reciprocal and functional migration framework.
Macron has also tied the full resumption of Algerian Consular services to the reestablishment of this cooperation, which has been effectively frozen in recent months.
On the diplomatic front, Macron signaled that other contentious issues may soon be addressed, including unpaid hospital debts, the activities of Algerian intelligence services in France, and ongoing tensions surrounding colonial memory.
By hardening his stance, Macron seeks to reassert France’s authority in the face of what he describes as repeated acts of defiance by Algeria.
The suspension of the visa exemption marks both a symbolic and practical break from a deal that once symbolized the ease of movement between two nations bound by a complex history and millions of dual nationals.
MK/ac/lb/gik/APA