Algeria refuses to issue consular permits that allow the return of its citizens who immigrate to France irregularly, and if accepted, it often does not deliver them on time, according to the French magazine Le Point.
France cannot return these immigrants who do not have their own passports unless one of the consulates of their country issues them a declaration proving their belonging to that country.
To clarify the reason for this refusal, the magazine conducted an interview with a former French ambassador who pointed out at the beginning that France’s decision in 2021 to reduce the number of visas granted to Algerians by 50% was very surprising and caused a strong reaction from the Algerian government.
Xavier Drencourt explained that, following this decision, Algeria prevented French military aircraft from flying over its territory, and summoned its ambassador for a period of 3 months, noting that the issue of the French visa for Algerians is very sensitive.
The ambassador - who served two terms in Algeria (from 2008 to 2012 and then from 2017 to 2020) and is also the author of the book "The Algerian Enigma" - said that Algerian diplomats have their own arguments for this refusal.
He added that "there is an explanation that I heard officially: these young people, after spending several years in France, "become tainted" by our Western civilization, and somewhat of our "bad morals".
He added that he remembers well a meeting at the headquarters of the French Foreign Ministry in 2018, in which a member of an Algerian delegation in Paris mentioned this justification, and it was not in the way of joking.
And in March 2020 - this time in Algiers - Drincourt says, "I was personally presented with the same explanation," noting that "the Algerians are telling us, 'You have part of the responsibility, and why do you want us to take back these unfit subjects who will be difficult for us to manage?'" after their return to the country.
In response to a question about whether immigration was the price of France's colonization of Algeria, Drencourt explained that there are approximately 5 million Algerians or French of Algerian origin in France, out of 43 million who are all residents of Algeria.
He added that this is the price that must be paid, not for colonialism, but rather the price of history, which he set in the period following Algeria's independence in 1962, which witnessed the establishment of exceptional ties and relations between the two peoples.
The ambassador noted that one should also not forget the Algerian or French doctors, engineers and computer scientists of Algerian origin who are working to develop French hospitals and companies.
Thus, Drincore says, the problem is first and foremost the problem of people in an illegal situation.
Regarding the attitude of the Algerians in general towards the French, the ambassador says, “As an ambassador in Algeria for nearly 8 years, I have never been received inappropriately. On the contrary, I felt appreciated and welcomed wherever I went as an official representative of France and as an ordinary person, and in fact Algeria is the country The only one in which I kept many true friends,” he said.