France considers watering down visa deal that gives Algerians preferential status
France is considering watering down a 1968 treaty giving Algerians preferential status to live and work in the country, its prime minister confirmed.
Elisabeth Borne said that she had discussed renegotiating the deal signed by Charles de Gaulle in the wake of Algeria’s war of independence from France with her Algerian counterpart.
“We have some requests and the Algerian government has some of its own. So it is indeed on the agenda,” Ms Borne told French newspaper Le Figaro.
Signed on Dec 27 1968, when France welcomed an influx of foreign workers to boost its economy, the bilateral agreement created a special status for Algerian nationals regarding movement, residence and employment.
Read Also: Sudan: Over 12,000 people killed in fighting – UN
Since then, Algerians in France no longer need permits to remain in the country and are instead handed “Algerian residence certificates”, 600,000 of which were issued in 2022.
This grants them the almost automatic right to remain for 10 years.
Immigration is a hot-button issue in France in the run-up to next June’s elections to the European Parliament, which Marine Le Pen’s hard-Right National Rally appears on course to win.
In a further boost to her party, a poll on Thursday showed for the first time that fewer people view it as a danger to democracy than the reverse, and more view it as a governing party than as a protest group.
Another poll suggested that 66 per cent of French think there are too many foreigners in the country.
Ms Borne’s remarks came as Emmanuel Macron’s government is struggling to secure support for a key immigration bill that will next week reach parliament, where he lacks an absolute majority.
