French President Macron Dwells On A Development In The Nagging Visa Issue

French President Emmanuel Macron defended his government’s position to reduce visas granted to Maghreb countries, which were reduced by fifty percent for Algeria and the Kingdom of Morocco, and thirty percent for Tunisia, in response to what Paris considered the lack of cooperation by the three countries in order to recover their illegally nationals present on French soil.
Macron described the step announced by his Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, last year, as a “hot blow” to the countries that refused to receive their nationals whom Paris wanted to deport, claiming that it caused a response from those countries, which, although he did not name them, they are known, and he was alluding to both Algeria and Morocco, while he was talking about “Tunisia and other countries”, because the announcement of the decision mentioned the three countries by name.
Macron talked about “lifting the barriers of return” by the countries concerned with illegal immigrants, and he was referring, in statements reported by French media platforms, to developments in the Tunisian situation and to many other countries, which occurred in recent months “because we had an frank dialogue with them,” by facilitating the return procedures, he said.
Regarding the next steps, Macron added, “Now, what we have decided to set for Tunisia and other countries is to establish a technical and practical dialogue that will legally highlight irregular immigration, regarding nationals of African countries, who are in an irregular situation, in order to return them,” fastly and smoothly to their own countries.”
The French president made these statements on the sidelines of the Francophonie summit that was held in the Tunisian city of Djerba, and these statements were met with disapproval by some observers, as they imply some condescension, as well as the fact that they came from Maghreb lands and in the presence of representatives of some of those countries.
The French position on the visa issue is contradictory. After months of “complications” imposed on Algerian nationals and the rest of the Maghreb countries, the French Minister of Interior Gerald Darmanin returned, at the end of last July, to reveal a new, different speech, when he said in statements to the BFM channel:”The pressure on the visa was not the result of what Paris had hoped.”
Darmanin talked about other considerations that stand in the way of linking the visa to responding to the issue of illegal immigration, when he said that “there are friendly relations with these countries,” referring to Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.
These statements were understood as a message of calm for rapprochement with Algeria, especially since they came at a time when preparations were underway for Macron’s visit to Algeria at the end of August, noting that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had summoned the French ambassador to Algeria, immediately after the decision to reduce visa grants, to inform him of an official protest in response to that untoward decision, which was still seen as having political backgrounds.