"France must be strong and earn respect": In response to Algeria, Emmanuel Macron calls for the suspension of visa exemptions for "official and diplomatic passports"

"France must be strong and earn respect," the French head of state argued in a letter to his Prime Minister, François Bayrou, published by Le Figaro . "It can only obtain this from its partners if it itself shows them the respect it demands from them. This basic rule also applies to Algeria ," he wrote, in a letter that marks a new stage in the acute diplomatic crisis that the two countries are going through.

To justify this tightening of the screws, Emmanuel Macron first mentions the imprisonment of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal , sentenced to 5 years in prison in particular for "attacking national unity" , and of the French journalist Christophe Gleizes , sentenced to seven years in prison in Algeria for "apology for terrorism".

But, he also refers to "Algeria's failure to respect its obligations" in matters of migration, as well as "the cessation of cooperation between the 18 Algerian consulates present on our soil and state services."

Among the measures requested from the government, the head of state calls for the "formal" suspension of the 2013 agreement with Algiers "concerning visa exemptions on official and diplomatic passports."

A decision that recognizes a de facto situation: the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, announced on May 14 "the return to Algeria of all agents holding diplomatic passports who do not currently have a visa." France was then reacting to an "unjustified and unjustifiable" decision by Algiers to expel French officials, he said.

Visa refusals

Emmanuel Macron also asked the government to "immediately" use a provision of the 2024 immigration law, the "visa-readmission lever (LVR)" which "allows the refusal of short-stay visas to holders of service and diplomatic passports , as well as long-stay visas to all types of applicants."

The President also asked his Prime Minister " to instruct the Minister of the Interior," Bruno Retailleau, who has taken a hard line with Algiers, "to find as quickly as possible ways and means of useful cooperation with his Algerian counterpart." He also "wishes that, faced with the delinquency of Algerian individuals in an irregular situation, the Minister of the Interior and his services act without rest or respite."

"In the same spirit, when you consider that the conditions are met with regard to our diplomatic system, you will be able to authorize the three Algerian consuls already present on our territory to exercise their mandate, while demanding, however, a resumption of migratory cooperation." "Only this resumption will allow us to admit five other consuls awaiting authorization," the French president wrote.

"The response of the Algerian authorities to our demands regarding migratory and consular cooperation will determine the next steps in our actions," continued Mr. Macron, adding that "once dialogue has been reestablished, we will also have to address other sensitive bilateral issues," citing " hospital debt," "the actions of certain Algerian state services on national territory, but also outstanding memorial issues."