Overview

• Macron asked Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to formally suspend a 2013 agreement that exempted Algerian diplomatic and official passport holders from visa requirements.
• He instructed Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to seek cooperation from Schengen countries to consult France before issuing short-stay visas to Algerian officials.
• The measures respond to Algeria’s refusal to repatriate nationals ordered to leave France under the OQTF deportation regime and its consulates’ suspension of cooperation on returns.
• The escalation follows months of tit-for-tat expulsions, ambassador recalls and the detention of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal and journalist Christophe Gleizes on national security charges.
• Macron said France must show strength and command respect while insisting his goal remains to restore effective and ambitious relations with Algeria.