French President Emmanuel Macron has asked his government to tighten visa requirements for Algerian diplomats, as the diplomatic crisis over the deportation of Algerian nationals escalates, reports Radio France Internationale.
In a letter to Prime Minister François Bayrou, published by Le Figaro newspaper on Wednesday, Macron said the growing difficulties that France is encountering in terms of migration and security with Algeria required a tougher stance against the former French colony.
Macron requested that foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot officially notify Algeria of the suspension of a 2013 agreement that exempted diplomatic and official passport holders from visa requirements.
He also requested that France's interior minister ask countries in the Schengen zone – which allow passport-free travel between their borders – to help France apply the tighter visa policy, notably by consulting France on the issue of short-stay visas for the Algerian officials in question and the passports covered by the 2013 agreement.
"France must be strong and command respect. It can only receive this from its partners if it shows them the respect it demands from them. This basic rule also applies to Algeria," Macron wrote.
Paris and Algiers have been embroiled for more than a year in an unprecedented diplomatic crisis that has resulted in the expulsion of officials on both sides, the recall of ambassadors from both countries and restrictions on holders of diplomatic visas.
Tensions grew last July when France recognised Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which Rabat wants the international community to recognise as Moroccan.
Relations deteriorated further in February this year when an Algerian citizen whom France had long unsuccessfully tried to repatriate was arrested as the suspect in a knife attack in the eastern French city of Mulhouse, which killed one person and injured three.
Read more of this report from RFI.