The extreme right is plunging Algeria into a premature election campaign
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Algeria was involved early in the propaganda campaign of the French far right in anticipation of the upcoming presidential elections, causing trouble for the Emmanuel Macron administration, which, through its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noel Barrow, was quick to accuse this political movement of being “obsessed with Algeria,” in response to a parliamentary question, regarding the French ambassador’s recent statements about the number of visas granted to Algerians.
Despite its acknowledgment of reducing the number to 20 percent, the French government, under pressure from representatives of Marine Le Pen’s extremist party, was quick to distance itself from the decline in the number of visas granted to Algerians, and tried to justify this decline with the repercussions of the political and diplomatic crisis that has afflicted bilateral relations since 2024, and the resulting exchange of expulsions of consular employees.
In a pre-election campaign on the backs of the Algerians, Edwige Diaz, a member of parliament and vice-president of the National Rally Party, claimed in her question to the French Foreign Minister that “40 percent of Algerians over the age of 15 are not working, studying, or retired,” and they represent “43 percent of those who receive medical care from the French government.”
The French Minister sensed unjustified prejudice by the Vice-President of the National Rally Party against the Algerians, to which he responded, saying: “You are obsessed with Algeria and the Algerians…” He also defended the steps taken by the French government regarding the outstanding issues with Algeria, including the case of the parishioner Christophe Glez, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence due to his involvement in cases related to supporting and praising terrorism.
In a briefing presented by the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, last Tuesday to members of the French National Assembly (the lower chamber of Parliament), he said that the number of visas granted to Algerians has decreased by 20 percent since the year 2024, which corresponds to the beginning of the crisis, which was caused by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, by taking a decision to support the Moroccan regime’s occupation of Western Sahara.
John Noel Barrow explained: “With regard to the issue of visas, I would like to begin by saying that since the outbreak of the crisis with Algeria, the issuance of visas decreased by 20 percent last year compared to the year before, primarily due to the restrictions imposed by the Algerian government on our diplomatic network.”
The French official added: “Since then, we have engaged in a new dynamic with the Algerian authorities, in a way that serves the interests of France and its people, as we have interests to defend in issues of immigration, security, and combating drug trafficking and terrorism. There are no specific numerical goals. Our policy is not based on quantity or quotas, but rather on evaluating how to protect our interests. Reconnecting with Algeria is a gradual and reversible process, and depends on the results we achieve.”
The head of French diplomacy attributed this decrease in the granting of visas to what he described as “the strict decisions taken by the Algerian government against our diplomatic network. But apart from that, we did not set specific numerical goals. Our policy is not based on quantity or quotas, but rather on an assessment of our interests and the evolving relationship.”
The decline in the number of visas granted to Algerians constitutes a fifth of the total number, as the number decreased from 250,000 visas per year to only 200,000, which is a large number that cannot be justified by expelling a number of French consular employees working in Algeria, or by withdrawing the French ambassador, because the three consulates (Algiers, Annaba, and Oran) continued their work normally without harassment.
Confirming the inauthenticity of these statements, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, had previously called for reducing the number of visas granted to Algeria by thirty percent, before the crisis in the French position on the Western Sahara issue erupted, which indicates that the justifications presented by the master of the “Kedorsi” palace remain mere talk.
