France issues ultimatum to Algeria before scrapping migration deals

France gave Algeria six weeks to take its nationals sent back for violating French laws or else deals, such as the 1968 deals offering Algerians preferential treatment in settling and working in France, will be declared null and void.

The ultimatum was issued by French prime minister François Bayrou after Algiers rejected three of its nationals in recent days.

The French political class was particularly outraged after the Mulhouse attack which killed one and injured seven others and whose perpetrator was rejected by Algeria fourteen times.

“This led to the tragedy and the death of people on our soil who trusted French security. For us, it is inacceptable that this situation lasts,” he said.

He said France would be forced to review all deals with Algeria. “We will do this after giving a month to six weeks to re-examine all. In the meanwhile, we will give the Algerian government a list of the people who will be sent back to their country,” he said.

If Algeria does not respond positively, the advantages given to Algeria will be scrapped along with the deals, Bayrou told the press after a ministerial meeting on migration.

“The government considers that the advantages offered under (the 1968 agreement) will have to be reconsidered… There is a strong feeling that the agreement has been betrayed,” Bayrou said.

“We reached this point because of Algerian authorities…refusing readmissions is a violation of deals with Algiers and this is unacceptable…the situation is serious,” he said.

Paris has recently imposed restrictions on some members of the Algerian nomenklatura in response to Algeria’s refusal to admit its nationals.

The arrest of novelist Boualem Sansal is also a violation of deals with France, he said.

Sansal has been imprisoned for nearly 3 months after giving an interview in France mentioning the colonial nature of the Algerian state.

Algeria has recalled its ambassador to Paris when France declared full support for Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara. Algiers has also taken economic retaliatory measures, including the boycott of French wheat, in self-defeating measures that recall similar failed tactics against Spain.

When Spain backed the autonomy plan for the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty, Algeria took a series of measures including trade restrictions and the recall of the ambassador hoped to pressure Madrid to change its stance to no avail.