Algeria fires back at France ending visa-free travel for French diplomats

(MENAFN) Algeria has canceled a longstanding visa exemption agreement for French diplomats and service passport holders, responding to what it described as France’s “provocation, intimidation, and bargaining” in an escalating diplomatic dispute.

According to official statements, France recently notified Algeria of its suspension of the 2013 accord that allowed French diplomatic and official passport holders to enter Algeria without visas. In response, Algerian authorities summoned a senior French embassy official and delivered two formal notes, one condemning the French decision.

“This denunciation goes beyond the simple suspension previously notified by the French side and definitively puts an end to the very existence of this agreement,” the Algerian Foreign Ministry declared. It also warned that Algeria would apply visa rules to French diplomats based on the same conditions France imposes on Algerian nationals, emphasizing the “strict application of the principle of reciprocity.”

Relations between Algeria and its former colonial ruler France began to sour in July 2024 after the French president publicly supported a contentious Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara.

Last month, Algeria withdrew special access passes granted to French Embassy personnel at its ports and airports, labeling the move a reciprocal response to restrictions placed on Algerian diplomats in France.

Reports indicate that the French president instructed his prime minister to tighten visa protocols for Algerian diplomats and sought cooperation from other Schengen countries to consult France before issuing short-term visas to Algerian officials or holders of passports previously covered by the 2013 arrangement.

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