Algeria categorically rejects the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Algeria expressed its categorical rejection of the temporary procedure proposed by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs regarding the arrival of the accredited Algerian employees to the areas allocated in French airports for the purposes of transporting or receiving the diplomatic bag, according to what was learned today, Monday, at an informed source.

According to the same source, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – the General Directorate of Protocol – received the oral memorandum from the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs on August 7, 2025 related to the proposal of a new temporary procedure regarding the arrival of the accredited Algerian employees to the areas allocated in French airports for the purposes of transporting or receiving the diplomatic bag.

This new procedure is mainly contradicted with France’s commitment to ensuring the proper functioning of diplomatic and consular missions on French soil.

In this regard, Article 25 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations stipulates that the approved country grants all facilities to perform diplomatic representation functions.

In addition, Article 5 of the Vienna Agreement for Consular Relations imposes on the host country to allow consular offices to perform its functions freely. It is clearly evident that the new procedure hinders the proof of the diplomatic mission and the Algerian consular offices in France.

In particular, it is related to the transfer or receipt of the diplomatic bag, the same new procedure reported to the Algerian side is a violation of the commitment that France has the responsibility of France in accordance with Article 27 Paragraph 7 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. This commitment expressly stipulates the right of any diplomatic mission to send one of its accredited members to receive the bag directly and freely from the pilot of the plane.

This commitment was explicitly included in Article 13, Paragraph 7 of the 1974 French Consulate Consulate Agreement, which states that the consular office can send one of its members to receive the bag directly and freely from the hand of the captain of the ship or the plane.

In the context of respecting its obligations under the Vienna Agreement for diplomatic relations, France gives the diplomatic and consular missions approved by permanent arrival cards to the areas of organized arrival (ZSAR) at airports, and therefore, any action that excludes the diplomatic mission and the Algerian consular offices from this system in force is a flagrant violation of a recognized commitment under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations The Algerian-French consulate agreement.

This proposed new procedure contradicts the principle of non -discrimination towards diplomatic and consular missions approved by the host country, which is a principle recognized under Article 47 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Article 72 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

In fact, this procedure exclusively targets the employees of the Algerian diplomatic mission in France, as it represents a discriminatory treatment that contradicts the articles mentioned above.

In this regard, it must be recalled that the first decision that deprived Algerian employees of arrival cards was already a discriminatory procedure and that the attempt to address this discriminatory treatment by adopting a new procedure also carries a discriminatory nature that can only increase this violation.

In addition to all these considerations related to international and bilateral obligations of the host country, other considerations are added of a practical nature. The matter is related to the fact that the new procedure reported only deals with the case of the Algerian embassy in Paris and ignores the situation of the Algerian consulate offices on French soil.

These consulates are exposed to the same measures that the Algerian embassy in Paris is exposed to, which prevents its employees from obtaining permanent access cards to the areas allocated in airports for the purposes of transporting or receiving the diplomatic bag, and therefore, its status also requires the same attention from the Ministry of Europe and foreign affairs that must be granted similar transaction that guarantees the good work without obstacles, according to the same source.

Besides these notes, this new procedure adds provocative and disappointed procedures. The matter is related to, first, with the procedure that aims to accompany the employee or employees assigned to transfer or receive the diplomatic bag with the escort of police agents at all times, then there is another procedure that imposes, before any transfer or receipt of the diplomatic bag, submitting a written request to the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs that must be deposited forty -eight (48) hours of the aforementioned operation.

As a result, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – the General Directorate of Protocol – expresses its categorical rejection of the temporary procedure proposed by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.

For Algeria, the only solution that corresponds to international and bilateral obligations of France lies in restoring permanent access cards for the benefit of the Algerian diplomatic and consulates mission in France.

Once these cards are restored, Algeria, for its part, will raise the similar measures it adopted within the framework of the strict application of the principle of reciprocity, concludes the same source.