France wants to scrap the agreement allowing Algerian officials to enter the country without a visa
French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced in an interview with French media outlet LCI that the latest diplomatic ‘clashes’ between France and Algeria have led to a decision to ‘abolish’ the Franco-Algerian government agreement that allowed more than 1,000 Algerian diplomats to travel freely in France without the need for a visa.
Tensions France/Algérie : @GDarmanin appelle à revenir sur l'accord de 2013 permettant aux tenants d'un passeport diplomatique algérien de circuler en France sans visa.
— LCI (@LCI) January 12, 2025
"Il faut supprimer cette facilité", demande le garde des Sceaux.
▶️ avec @DariusRochebin pic.twitter.com/NIlfZdWXhh
The decision communicated by the minister will not affect the population of Algerian origin residing in France, Algerian citizens or ‘pied-noirs’, who are the French who resided on Algerian territory during the French colonial period. ‘This retaliatory measure would have no impact on the 10% of our citizens who have blood, land and cultural ties with France,’ Darmanin clarified.
The resolution aims to deal a blow to the Algerian elite. In the words of the minister, the decision to deprive Algerians holding official or diplomatic passports is ‘the smartest, most effective and quickest thing to do’. Relations between the two countries are not at their best. Accusations by Algerian media and politicians are a constant feature of North African diplomacy.
‘We are at a very critical point and this humiliation they want to inflict on us is not acceptable. Algeria must respect France, and France must respect Algeria’, the minister concluded. Algeria in turn accused France of wanting to promote an escalation in the conflict through a campaign of discrediting, disinformation and distortion of the Algerian reality.
Doualemn case
The latest case was that of the arrest in Montpellier in southern France of the Algerian influencer Doualemn, whose residence permit was cancelled after he called for the torture of the opposition to the Algerian regime's leader, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
From the Algerian perspective, this imprisonment was an ‘arbitrary decision by the French ultra-right’. The events between the two countries do not only concern the imprisonment of the influencer.
The arrest of the French-Algerian writer by the military regime ruling Algeria is one of the main concerns of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
French prosecutors also announced that the Algerian influencer, known as ‘Zazo Youssef’, will face trial in France on charges of incitement to terrorism via TikTok. In response, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, according to Darmanin, made it clear that Algeria's attitude is ‘absolutely unacceptable’ and that it ‘intends to humiliate France’.
The former French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, in a column published in the French daily Le Figaro, expressed himself along the same lines, urging the denunciation of the 1968 Franco-Algerian agreement and the duty to set limits and assume the balance of power.
‘Faced with an Algerian regime that is increasingly provocative, it is time to take responsibility for the balance of power. And to ensure that the voice of France is respected. Between the blindness of the extreme left and the blind hatred of the extreme right, there is a way forward: that of a new relationship with Algeria, a dispassionate relationship, based on respect. Respect for our laws, our borders, our interests and between our two peoples,’ Gabriel Attal told Le Figaro.
Mega-prison
In addition, Gérald Darmanin announced in the same interview that he will create a mega-prison for ‘the 100 biggest drug traffickers in the country’, which is a strong and assertive decision aimed at showing the owners of the drug market that criminals in France will no longer lead a good life.
‘We are going to take a French prison, empty it completely and transform it into a secure fortress. These criminals will no longer be able to make phone calls, order their trafficking or threaten anyone,’ he explained.
