Macron takes aim at Algerian officials in major diplomatic escalation

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron moved to revoke visa exemptions for Algerian officials and diplomats on Wednesday, marking one of the most significant escalations in a diplomatic feud that has put the two countries at loggerheads for over a year.

Macron asked his prime minister and foreign minister to revoke a 2013 agreement that allows Algerians with a diplomatic or service passport visa-free access to France for up to 90 days.

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot had previously announced plans to expel Algerian diplomats without valid visas in response to Algiers expelling French civil servants from its territory.

France and Algeria have had a complex relationship since the North African country gained independence after more than a century of brutal French occupation. Tensions reached a fever pitch last year when Paris recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, aligning with Spain, the United States and others.

Western Sahara is mostly controlled by Morocco, but Rabat’s sovereignty over the territory is not internationally recognized. Algiers unconditionally supports and hosts the headquarters of the pro-Sahrawi independence movement, the Polisario Front.

France also claims that two of its citizens, French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal and reporter Christophe Gleizes, are being held in Algerian prisons without cause.

Sansal was sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national unity after expressing support for Morocco in a territorial dispute with Algeria and claiming that only “small places with no history” end up being colonized in an interview with a far-right French online outlet.

Gleizes was sentenced to seven years for “advocating terrorism” after interviewing the heads of a football club who also held roles in separatist movements within Algeria.

In response to Macron’s announcement, the Algerian foreign ministry issued a statement Thursday stating that it was Paris that had pushed for an agreement on visa exemptions and that Algiers would gladly take “the opportunity to announce its withdrawal from this agreement, simply and clearly.”

“Since the outbreak of this crisis, which France caused, it has chosen to approach it with the logic of force and escalation. It has resorted to threats, ultimatums and diktats, ignoring the fact that Algeria does not submit to any form of pressure, coercion or blackmail, regardless of its source or nature,” the ministry said.

Macron had sought to maintain diplomatic ties with Algeria and was eager to de-escalate. miniHe now appears to have lost patience.

“We have no choice but to adopt a firmer approach,” Macron told right-wing daily Le Figaro.

Relations with Algeria are also a hot topic for the French president domestically. Algerians make up France’s largest immigrant community, and millions of French citizens are of Algerian descent.

Meanwhile, far-right and right-wing figures — including current Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau — have made cracking down on Algeria and Algerian immigration central to their political platforms.

This article has been updated.