AA / Paris / Ümit Dönmez
French President Emmanuel Macron sent a letter to his Prime Minister, François Bayrou, on August 6. Le Figaro revealed its content, which we have been able to consult the entirety.
In his letter, Emmanuel Macron asks the government to make “additional decisions” in the face of “growing difficulties” with the Algerian authorities in migration and security matters.
The French head of state notably notes “the cessation of all cooperation of the 18 Algerian consulates present on our soil with the state services”, as well as “the fate reserved for our compatriots Boualem Sansal and Christophe Gléizes”, detained in Algeria.
Emmanuel Macron denounces what he describes as the non-compliance by Algiers of his obligations, in particular those provided for by the readmission agreement of 1994 and the 2013 agreement on visa exemptions for holders of diplomatic and service passports.
The French president therefore requests the “official suspension” of the 2013 agreement, already de facto in break since a reciprocal dismissal of diplomats in May. He also hopes that the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, obtaining coordination with the other countries of the Schengen space to limit access to the European territory of Algerian officials concerned.
In the same letter, he calls to implement the devices provided for by the immigration law of 2024. The article 47 of this text, he recalls, has established a “visa-feeding lever” allowing to refuse visas to certain diplomatic or service profiles.
But beyond the visas, the French head of state is mainly concerned about the “lack of Algerian cooperation” in the management of expellable nationals. It requires reinforced measures to deal with the presence of people deemed dangerous on French soil. “Whatever their merits, these measures cannot, however, compensate for the lack of Algerian cooperation,” he wrote, in reference to the arrangement and lengthening of retention durations. The Mulhouse attack, committed by a recently released Algerian national, seems to have precipitated this presidential inflection. “The Minister of the Interior and his services must act without rest and without respite,” he insists.
Regarding the French Embassy in Algiers, Emmanuel Macron stresses that the restrictions imposed by the Algerian authorities have already caused a 30 % drop in the issuance of visas. It conditions any return to normal on the lifting of these obstacles and the resumption of effective consular cooperation, in particular via the delivery of the pass and the readmission of expelled persons.
Despite this displayed severity, the French president claims to keep the goal of “finding effective and ambitious relationships” with Algiers. He calls for treating memory litigation, supposed interference, hospital debt and the restitution of nuclear test sites, as soon as a dialogue will become possible.
As a reminder, in April 2025, the diplomatic crisis between Paris and Algiers crossed a new threshold with a series of reciprocal expulsions of diplomats. On April 14, Algeria announced the expulsion of twelve French diplomats.
The next day, in direct response, France replied by declaring that it was going to expel twelve Algerian diplomats in turn. This gesture was accompanied by the recall of his ambassador to Algiers, a strong signal of a brutal cooling of bilateral relations. This exchange of hostile measures has deeply stretched an already weakened dialogue, crystallizing months of disagreements on migratory, security and memorial issues.
The historical litigation between Algeria and France is very deep. In addition to the question of archives, the restitution of confiscated Algerian property, Algeria also calls for repairs on French nuclear tests in Algeria and compensation for victims. Algeria also demands recognition of colonial crimes by official France.
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