Algeria Will Respond Strictly To French Excesses Regarding Visas
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that the Algerian government has noted that the French communication management on this matter now appears to be 'strange and suspicious behavior consisting of crude leaks to media outlets skillfully selected by the French Ministry of Interior and the French Directorate General of Police.'
Through this unusual channel, French decisions are now being announced, in complete disregard of established diplomatic practices and in flagrant violation of the provisions of the 2013 Algerian-French agreement regulating visa exemptions for holders of diplomatic passports and service passports.
In fact, to this day, in flagrant violation of the provisions of Article 8 of this agreement, Algeria has not received any official French notification through the only channel used in relations between states, which in this case is the diplomatic channel.
The Chargé d'Affaires at the French Embassy in Algeria, who was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs four times on this matter, confirmed that he had not received any instructions from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and that he has not been able to respond to official Algerian requests for clarification on this matter to this day.
The Algerian government officially reminds in this regard that the French side bears full and complete responsibility for the initial violations of the 2013 agreement on visa exemption for holders of diplomatic passports and service passports, and these violations, immediately upon their occurrence, were the subject of an official statement from the Algerian authorities which denounced them and held the French side responsible in this regard.
Consequently, the Algerian government categorically rejects these fallacies and considers the French claim that Algeria was the first to breach its obligations under the 2013 agreement to be contrary to the truth.
In addition to these necessary clarifications, the Algerian government takes this opportunity to remind that regarding the exemption of holders of diplomatic passports and service passports from visas, Algeria was never the one who requested it. When visas were imposed in 1986 on citizens of both countries, it was France that initiated the proposal to exempt holders of diplomatic passports from this measure, but Algeria at that time clearly and explicitly rejected this proposal.
Later, during the 1990s, France renewed this proposal three times and it was always met with the same rejection from the Algerian side.
Algeria only accepted this in 2007 when the French authorities returned to raising the same issue, and Algeria finally agreed to conclude a bilateral agreement exempting holders of diplomatic passports from visas. Always at the French initiative, a new agreement was concluded in 2013 that expanded the scope of the exemption to include holders of service passports, thus canceling the limited agreement of 2007.
In general, it is clear in reality that the French government is inclined towards freezing or suspending the 2013 agreement without taking responsibility or consequences for that, in complete disregard of the provisions of the applicable agreement.
Today, as yesterday, Algeria has no special interest or notable attachment to this agreement, and it clearly notes what resembles an actual suspension of the agreement by France without respecting the necessary legal procedures.
It will draw all the consequences from that and take the necessary measures, and will respond by strictly applying the principle of reciprocity in proportion to the French side's breach of its commitments and pledges.
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