Algeria suspends consular services in municipal districts in southern France 

Algeria is reported to have suspended its consular relations and services in the municipal districts of Nice, Marseille and Montpellier in southern France. The move is said to be in response to “successive campaigns to persecute irregular Algerian migrants who have been issued administrative orders to deport them from French territory.”

Algerian newspaper El Khabar quoted the French radio station Europe 1 as saying that the Algerian consulate in Nice had suspended all forms of consular cooperation with the city’s authorities as of Tuesday, “a few days after relations with the Algerian consulates in Marseille and Montpellier were terminated.”

The newspaper noted that, as a direct result of this decision, consular hearings of Algerian nationals held in administrative detention centres will cease, and the passes required for their expulsion will be suspended. It explained that if the French authorities apprehend an illegal immigrant without a passport and seek to verify his identity with the Algerian consular authority in the city concerned, they will not receive the required cooperation.

El Khabar also pointed out that this process is based on an agreement between the two countries, the most important of which is that France cannot expel any Algerian unless it obtains a consular permit authorising it.

According to Europe 1, Algeria has not accepted 23 Algerians who had been issued deportation orders from France. This has been the case since France refused the entry of Boualem Naman in January, even though he has lived in Montpellier for 30 years.

Algeria has 18 consulates in France located in the cities with the largest number of Algerian immigrants. According to French media reports regarding those subject to expulsion, the largest number are in the three cities where Algeria has suspended consular relations.

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