Algeria–France, clarified: What Macron’s letter set off and how Algiers answered

Khoshnaw Rahmani, Jadetimes Staff

K. Rahmani is a Jadetimes news reporter covering politics.

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Image Source: Ramzi Boudina

France’s suspension of a long-standing visa deal with Algeria has ignited fresh tensions between the two countries, prompting Algiers to retaliate with legal rebuttals and policy reversals. From diplomatic flashpoints to deeper historical wounds, this is more than a paperwork dispute—it’s a reckoning decades in the making.

Jadetimes Briefing: The Algeria–France Diplomatic Rift

•       France unilaterally suspends key visa deal: Macron’s directive halts a 2013 agreement that allowed Algerian diplomats visa-free entry to France, citing breakdowns in migration enforcement and security cooperation.

•     Algeria responds with legal rebuttal and reciprocal measures: Algiers denounces the move as misleading and retaliatory, announcing the reinstatement of visa requirements for French officials and full withdrawal from the accord.

•    Underlying tensions resurface: The exchange reflects long-standing disputes over consular protocols, migration policy, colonial memory, and regional geopolitics—accelerated by France’s recent Western Sahara stance and the Amir DZ affair.

•      Mobility and diplomacy entangled: Official travel between the two states now faces increased restrictions, formalizing the freeze in bilateral trust through administrative tools.

•      Historical resonance meets present-day rupture: This isn’t merely bureaucratic—it’s the latest chapter in a relationship shaped by conquest, resistance, and political recalibration.

The news: A letter, a suspension, and a sharp reply

France escalated its standoff with Algeria after President Emmanuel Macron, in a letter published by French media, asked his government to suspend a 2013 agreement that allowed Algerian diplomatic and service passport holders to enter France without visas. He framed the step as necessary firmness amid migration and security disputes and instructed ministries to coordinate with Schengen partners on tighter controls for Algerian officials. The letter included the line: “France must be strong and command respect… This basic rule also applies to Algeria,” underscoring a shift from recent attempts at détente.

Algeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs fired back the next day, saying the letter “exonerates France entirely” and misrepresents reality. Algiers announced it would not only apply reciprocity, but also denounce the 2013 visa‑exemption agreement altogether, stressing that the deal had been requested by France in the first place. The ministry also cited French breaches of bilateral and international obligations and vowed to reimpose visas on French diplomatic passport holders in response to Paris’s suspension.

Paris tied the tighter stance to Algeria’s halt of consular cooperation in France, migration readmission frictions, and concern for Franco‑Algerian writer Boualem Sansal and French journalist Christophe Gleizes, both imprisoned in Algeria—cases France calls arbitrary. French officials further invoked a 2024 immigration law’s “visa‑readmission leverage” to restrict access for Algerian officials, explicitly linking future steps to Algiers’ cooperation on deportations.

What Macron’s letter said, and why it matters

• Core instruction: Suspend the 2013 visa waiver for Algerian diplomatic/service passports, and seek Schengen coordination to ensure aligned short‑stay visa decisions for Algerian officials.

• Rationale cited: Migration enforcement disputes (including readmissions), cessation of consular cooperation by Algeria’s missions in France, and high‑profile detentions of French or Franco‑Algerian figures in Algeria.

• Tone and message: “France must be strong and command respect,” signaling a domestic and international posture of firmness after a year of reciprocal expulsions and security incidents.

This approach marks a clear pivot from the 2022 “reset,” where symbolism and cooperative mechanisms (like a historians’ commission) guided engagement. By packaging visas, migration, and judicial frictions into one directive letter, the Élysée used administrative levers to force attention from Algiers and to answer domestic pressure over migration and security narratives.

How Algerian authorities framed their clarifications

Algeria’s MFA laid out a three‑part rebuttal:

• Attribution of blame: France “exonerates itself” and wrongly lays responsibility on Algeria; Algiers says its actions were reciprocal and lawful throughout the crisis.

• Legal breaches: France allegedly violated its own legislation and bilateral frameworks, notably the 1968 agreement governing Algerians’ movement and residence in France, the 1974 consular convention, and the 2013 visa‑exemption accord, as well as European human rights obligations.

• Reciprocity and sovereignty: Given France’s suspension, Algeria will denounce the 2013 agreement and reimpose visas on French diplomatic/service passports, insisting it does not yield to pressure, threats, or ultimatums.

The statement also condemned the reactivation of “visa‑readmission” leverage as contrary to bilateral and European commitments, pledging robust consular protection for Algerians in France and legal assistance against arbitrary measures.

How we got here: The year of escalation behind the letter

• Western Sahara rupture (summer 2024): France recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara—long opposed by Algiers, which backs the Polisario Front—prompting Algeria to recall its ambassador and deepening mistrust.

• The Amir DZ kidnapping affair (2024–2025): French authorities investigated the abduction of Algerian influencer Amir Boukhors near Paris; an Algerian consular employee was among suspects, triggering furious protests from Algiers over consular immunity and a cascade of reciprocal expulsions.

• Diplomatic expulsions (2025): Algeria expelled French personnel; France responded in kind, calling Algiers’ moves “unjustified,” as the tit‑for‑tat widened8.

• Consular freeze and migration standoff: Algeria’s suspension of consular cooperation in France collided with Paris’s push to increase readmissions under OQTF deportation orders, generating the “visa‑readmission” linkage in Macron’s letter.

• High‑profile detentions in Algeria: The convictions of Boualem Sansal and Christophe Gleizes became cause célèbres in Paris, adding human‑rights urgency to the policy hardening.

Together, these episodes primed both sides for a paper trail confrontation—Macron’s letter and Algiers’ clarifications—that codified an already visible rupture.

The practical impact: Visas, mobility, and leverage

• Diplomatic mobility: Suspension (France) and denunciation (Algeria) of the 2013 visa‑exemption deal mean more formalities, delays, and points of friction for official travel in both directions.

• Schengen coordination: Paris asked partners to consult France before issuing visas to Algerian officials covered by the deal, widening the operational scope of the restriction.

• Wider spillovers: Algerian media warned that hardened visa policies risk chilling academic, business, and family travel and could weigh on French business in Algeria, beyond diplomatic circles.

In short, the immediate levers are bureaucratic—but they bite. Visa policy is now a pressure point on par with ambassadorial recalls and expulsions.

How this correspondence compares with past flare‑ups

Episode	Instrument	Trigger	Signature features	Outcome
2021 “history” row	Public remarks, ambassador recall	Macron’s comments on Algerian nationhood and memory politics	Symbolic politics; memorial sensitivities	Months‑long freeze, later thawed in 2022 visit
2022 “reset”	High‑level visit, joint historians’ commission	Mutual interest in energy, security, and memory work	Symbolism plus practical cooperation	Momentum stalled amid later crises
2024–2025 expulsions	Reciprocal expulsions, legal cases	Amir affair; consular employee arrest	Security/legal framing; sovereignty claims	Trust eroded; channels strained
2025 letter–clarifications	Executive letter, visa suspension/denunciation	Migration   readmissions, consular freeze, detentions	Administrative leverage via visas; legalistic rebuttals	Formal, codified rupture—reciprocity across the board

Unlike prior crises driven by speeches or security incidents, this episode centers on a written executive instruction with immediate administrative effects—and a matching legal‑diplomatic counter from Algiers. That makes it more durable than a headline quarrel and harder to unwind quickly.

The long arc: A concise history of Algeria–France relations

• Early contacts and empire: Ties date to the 16th‑century Franco‑Ottoman alliance; Algiers was an Ottoman regency, and French–Algerian interactions included trade, corsair conflicts, and treaties across the 1600s.

• Conquest and colonization (1830–1962): France invaded in 1830 after the “fly‑whisk” incident, established settler colonial rule, and integrated Algeria as departments. Colonization transformed society, economy, and demography, entrenching inequalities and violent repression.

• War of independence (1954–1962): The FLN‑led struggle produced mass casualties on all sides and ended with independence in 1962; memory of torture, massacres, and displacement remains central to both polities.

• Post‑independence dependency and friction: Despite anti‑colonial identity, Algeria’s early economy and migration channels remained entwined with France. Relations oscillated between pragmatic cooperation and resentments over history, migration, and security.

• Memory politics and partial reckonings: France has made symbolic gestures (e.g., repatriation of resistance fighters’ remains in 2020) and acknowledged torture; debates over apologies, the Harkis, archives, and curricula keep the past politically alive.

• Contemporary flashpoints: Migration policy, Sahel security coordination, energy ties, Western Sahara, and speech cases (writers, journalists, influencers) periodically force recalibration—reset in 2022, rupture in 2024–2025.

In short, the relationship spans five centuries and toggles between interdependence and indignation—where mobility, memory, and sovereignty repeatedly collide.

Timeline: From early ties to the 2025 letter

• 1526–1600s: Franco‑Ottoman alliance brings France into durable contact with the Regency of Algiers; centuries of maritime conflict, treaties, and trade ensue.

• 1830: French invasion begins; colonization consolidates over ensuing decades.

• 1954–1962: War of independence; Algeria achieves sovereignty.

• 2020: France repatriates remains of Algerian resistance fighters, a symbolic moment in memory politics.

• Oct 2021: Macron’s remarks on Algerian history spark crisis; Algeria recalls its ambassador.

• Aug 2022: Macron’s visit to Algiers launches a reset and historians’ commission.

• July 2024: France recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara; Algeria sees betrayal and pulls back, deepening the rift.

• 2024–Apr 2025: Amir kidnapping case in France; arrest of an Algerian consular employee; reciprocal expulsions of diplomats.

• Aug 2025: Macron’s letter suspends the 2013 visa‑exemption agreement; Algiers denounces the accord and imposes reciprocity.

What to watch next

• Migration mechanics: Does Algeria restore consular cooperation and accept more OQTF readmissions—or does Paris escalate visa leverage further?

• Judicial sensitivities: Any movement on Sansal or Gleizes could unlock symbolic concessions or harden positions.

• Regional chessboard: France’s Western Sahara stance will continue to shape Algiers’ trust calculus; any EU‑wide posture shift would be consequential.

• Backchannel pragmatism: Energy, health (hospital debts), and security files can offer quiet off‑ramps if both sides want them.

Expert analysis: The structure beneath the storm

This is a structurally layered dispute. At the surface, it’s a visa and migration fight; beneath, it’s about narrative control (who is at fault, whose law prevails), and deeper still, it’s about legitimacy and memory. By choosing a formal letter and a legal instrument (suspension of a bilateral accord), Paris converted political grievances into administrative action. Algiers’ legalistic rebuttal and outright denunciation mirrored that tactic, preserving sovereignty claims and parity. That symmetry suggests neither side intends to blink without bankable concessions.

For readers tracking the arc of Algeria–France, the lesson is familiar: moments of warmth tend to rest on symbolic scaffolding that struggles in the face of security shocks and domestic politics. Until both capitals can firewall migration and memory from day‑to‑day crisis management, even modest incidents can cascade into systemic freezes.

Glossary of key instruments and terms

• 2013 visa‑exemption agreement: Allowed holders of Algerian diplomatic and service passports to enter France visa‑free for short stays; suspended by France and denounced by Algeria in Aug 2025.

• OQTF (Obligation de Quitter le Territoire Français): French deportation regime at the heart of readmission disputes with Algeria.

• Visa‑readmission leverage (France, 2024 law): Legal basis to restrict visas if a country is deemed non‑cooperative on migration readmissions.

• Western Sahara: Disputed territory; France backed Morocco’s sovereignty in 2024, a major break with Algeria’s position supporting Sahrawi self‑determination via the Polisario Front.