France Wants Judicial Cooperation With Algeria in Family Law Files

The European Council proposed allowing France to negotiate a bilateral agreement with Algeria on issues related to judicial cooperation in family law matters, such as divorce, separation, dissolution of marriage contracts, parental responsibility, child abduction, maintenance obligations, and marriage regulations.

In this context, a document of the French Senate “le sénat”, a copy of which is available to Echorouk, indicates that this initiative came from the Secretary-General of the European Commission, Martine Deprez, and was addressed on February 8, 2023, to the Secretary-General of the European Union Council, Thérèse Blanchet, and concerns a proposal for a resolution to grant permission to France to negotiate a bilateral agreement with Algeria, regarding issues related to judicial cooperation in the field of family law.

According to the same document, France made it clear that the provisions relating to the recognition and enforcement of judgments, the submission of documents and the receipt of evidence should also apply to matters relating to family law, in particular divorce, separation and dissolution of marriage contracts, parental responsibility, child abduction, maintenance obligations and marriage regulations.

The French authorities attributed this step to a large number of Algerians residing on its territory, and the matter here concerns only adult Algerian citizens, that is, not the Algerians with dual citizenship.

In this regard, the document indicates that France has provided the European Commission with the latest available statistics regarding its relations with Algeria, noting that in 2021, over 611,084 adult Algerian citizens resided in France, which constitutes the first foreign community in the country.

The same source pointed out that this number does not include minors, Algerians with dual citizenship, illegal residents, about “clandestine migrants” compared to 31,980 French nationals currently residing in Algeria.

The document reveals that in a letter dated December 8, 2016, France asked the European Commission for permission to negotiate a bilateral agreement with Algeria on issues related to judicial cooperation in civil and commercial affairs, to modernize and unify the three existing bilateral agreements of 1962, 1964 and 1980 that are currently in effect.

It indicated that France had provided information about a special interest in negotiating the draft agreement submitted to the committee, due to the exceptional economic, cultural, historical, social and political ties it had with Algeria, and in particular, concerning data on the large number of Algerian citizens residing on its territory, and French nationals residing in Algeria, as well as on the special importance of trade between the two countries.

The proposal was contained in 4 articles, the first of which stated that France has the power to negotiate an agreement with Algeria on issues related to judicial cooperation in civil matters related to family law, provided that the negotiation guidelines are followed.

Among these principles is the need to inform Algeria that the European Commission will participate in the negotiations as an observer and will be informed of the progress made and the results obtained during the various stages of the negotiations.

Among the guidelines is informing Algeria that, after negotiations have concluded, a mandate from the Council of the European Union is required before the parties are authorized to agree, and also to inform Algeria that the mandate of the Council of the European Union to agree, on the proposal of the Commission, may provide that the agreement is likely to have a limited period of validity (eg five years) and must be reviewed at a later time, and a clause is inserted stating that the provisions recognized in France by this agreement cannot be subsequently generalized in other EU member states.

The second article stipulates that the negotiations shall be conducted in consultation with the European Commission, and France will regularly inform it of the measures taken under this decision and consult with it regularly. France, at the request of the Commission, shall submit to it a written report on the progress made in the negotiations and their results.