Macron Defends Visa Restrictions on North African Countries, Targets Leadership

"There will be no impact on what we are talking about. We will make sure that students and the business world can keep it," reassured Emmanuel Macron during a reception attended by 18 young people from families who had lived the Algerian war intimately at the Élysée. "We will rather annoy the people who are in the leadership, who were used to asking for visas easily."

According to the French president, this decision is a means of pressure for France. "If you (the Algerian leaders) don’t cooperate to remove people who are in an irregular and dangerous situation, we won’t make your life easier," he said. In other words, this decision aims to directly sanction the top officials of the Algerian regime and their families who live on the "memorial rent".

On Wednesday, France decided to reduce by 50% the granting of visas for Moroccans and Algerians and by 30% for Tunisians on the grounds that these three countries refuse to issue the necessary consular laissez-passer for the return of their nationals expelled from France.