French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau Monday that France would make a “graduated response” following an Algerian rejection of a list of people France wants to return to Algeria. File Photo by Teresa Suarez/EPA-EFE
March 18 (UPI) — France has vowed to retaliate after Algeria refused to take back some of its nationals that Paris seeks to deport. French interior minister Bruno Retailleau threatened Monday to take “a graduated response,” to the situation, alleging that “Algeria refuses to apply international law.”
France has attempted to expel around 60 Algerians, to which Algeria has since said in a press release Monday that it had received the list Friday from the French embassy but Algerian Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lounès Magramane returned to the French embassy Monday to verbally reject the list.
Algerian authorities argued that this request was not made through “established procedure,” which would normally be a “case-by-case basis.” Instead, Algeria alleged that France, by not following what it says are standard processes, was guilty of “threats and attempts at intimidation.”
The “response” mentioned by Retailleau remains undefined, but possibilities could range from particular sanctions to a review of all agreements the two nations have in place. The two countries have a complicated relationship due to their former colonial relationship, and France has already announced a suspension of a 2007 deal that allowed those with Algerian diplomatic passports the ability to stay in France for brief periods without a visa.
Another potential move would be the slowing of compensation for Algerian victims of French nuclear tests that took place in the 1960s.