Taxed as a “lie”, Gérald Darmanin maintains his figure

Some 7,730 obligations to leave French territory (OQTF) have been pronounced since January against Algerian nationals, assured Monday the entourage of the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin, in response to the Algerian president accusing him of “big lie”.

“Moussa Darmanin has built a big lie”, declared Sunday Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to the address of the French Minister of the Interior of which Moussa is the middle name given in homage to his grandfather, an Algerian rifleman of the Second World War .

Battle of numbers between Algiers and Paris

“There have never been 7,000 [clandestins algériens], it is completely false ”, declared Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in an interview with several Algerian media.

“The list that reached us in 2020 and the three lists in 2021 counted 94 cases among which 21 were accepted and 16 others rejected”, assured the Algerian president. “They are not going to come home [en Algérie] because they are linked to terrorism. They came from Syria (…) There are binationals who have no family here, ”he added.

The entourage of Gerald Darmanin explained in response Monday: “The list [des 94 Algériens] to which President Tebboune refers to the ultra-priority profiles, those on file for radicalization and that we consider to be the most dangerous, that we want to send back as quickly as possible ”.

Half the number of visas issued

France announced on September 28 a reduction of visas by half for Algeria and Morocco and by a third for Tunisia, citing as the reason the “refusal” of these countries to issue the consular passes necessary for the return of immigrants returned from France.

The number of consular passes allocated since the beginning of the year, “about thirty”, “is not acceptable”, repeated Monday the entourage of Gerald Darmanin.

Algiers reacted the day after France’s announcement by summoning the French ambassador to notify him of a “formal protest from the Algerian government following a unilateral decision by the French government affecting the quality and fluidity of traffic”.