France will take “strong and proportionate” action in response to Algeria’s expulsion of 15 French officials, a move France has condemned as “unjustified,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced on Monday. The latest diplomatic rift between the two countries deepens an already strained relationship.
The tensions, long fraught due to colonial history, escalated further last year when French President Emmanuel Macron publicly supported Morocco’s stance on the contentious Western Sahara issue, angering Algeria. While relations briefly thawed in April after Barrot’s visit to Algiers, a reciprocal wave of expulsions has reignited the dispute.
Algeria’s state news agency APS reported that France’s charge d’affaires was notified that 15 French diplomats had been deemed in violation of regulations and would be expelled.
“The departure of agents on temporary missions is unjustified, and as I did last month, we will respond immediately and firmly,” Barrot stated in Normandy.
This development follows a similar back-and-forth from April, when France recalled its ambassador to Algeria and expelled 12 Algerian diplomats in retaliation for Algeria’s expulsion of 12 French consular and diplomatic staff.
The deteriorating ties between the two nations have far-reaching consequences, given their extensive trade relations and the fact that approximately 10% of France’s population has ties to Algeria, according to French officials.
“I regret this decision as it serves neither Algeria’s nor France’s interests,” Barrot added, though he did not elaborate on specific steps Paris might take next.