France Threatens to Review Algeria Migration Pact in Row Over Deportations

France said on Wednesday it would review a decades-old agreement that makes it easier for Algerian citizens to move to France unless Algeria agrees to take back those who are deported by the French authorities.

Already strained ties between Paris and Algiers have worsened further after an Algerian citizen whom France had long tried unsuccessfully to repatriate killed one person and injured three in a knife attack in the city of Mulhouse on Saturday.

“The drama in Mulhouse was possible because this Algerian citizen was under orders to leave the country and was presented for repatriation 14 times… and each time refused,” Prime Minister Francois Bayrou told a news conference.

Under a 1968 pact between France and its former colony, Algerian citizens enjoy several exceptions to French immigration laws, making it easier to settle in France.

{snip}

Ties between Paris and Algiers have deteriorated in recent months since France recognised Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which Rabat wants the international community to recognise as Moroccan.

{snip}