![Stéphane Romatet a dévoilé la feuille de route fixée par Paris pour relancer la relation avec Alger. [Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP]](/cdn-cgi/image/onerror=redirect,width=640,height=640,format=webp/https://storage.googleapis.com/uploads.mongoosehq.com/url/media/156052081/14c2ccd8e49d3eeb2bb712a2eaaead28915869b971f84bba6afff41fd3aa5281)
![Face à la polémique, le ministère des Affaires étrangères a tenu à clarifier sa position. [© Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / POOL / AFP]](/cdn-cgi/image/onerror=redirect,width=640,height=640,format=webp/https://storage.googleapis.com/uploads.mongoosehq.com/url/media/156420498/2e25f4feb36a584696ff8e982279b7644612e185d84b034a78f473b49f1de397)
Overview
- In a mid‑July 2026 interview with TSA, Ambassador Stéphane Romatet said he wants to revive visa issuance toward pre‑crisis levels of about 250,000 a year for Algerian nationals.
- The French foreign ministry quickly tempered that language by saying no numeric visa target has been fixed and that visa volumes are not a formal item under negotiation with Algeria.
- Leaders of the Rassemblement National and Les Républicains, including Jordan Bardella and Bruno Retailleau, denounced the ambassador's remarks as a 'capitulation' and demanded conditions such as the release of jailed French journalist Christophe Gleizes and firm readmission guarantees.
- Operational limits complicate any rapid rise in visas because consular staffing cuts drove a more than 20% fall in visas in 2025, Algeria has issued only a few hundred consular laissez‑passer needed for expulsions since January 2026, and an estimated 100,000–120,000 Algerians are irregular in France.
- The episode highlights Paris's broader aim to relaunch security, judicial, migration and economic cooperation after the 2024 rupture over Western Sahara, but it shows progress will depend on resolving detainee cases, rebuilding consular capacity and securing Algerian cooperation on readmissions.