When Emmanuel Macron spares a moment to consider matters at home, he will find that the vast majority of the French public believes decisive action must be taken on his country’s Algerian migration pact.
That is according to a new CSA poll, which found an impressive 84% of respondents said visas should be suspended for Algerian nationals until Algeria agrees to take back migrants under an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF). There is little variation in this view between men and women, young and old, reports French broadcaster CNews.
Not that Algeria alone is to blame for the failure to carry out deportations. The French establishment has also played its part, with the justice system cracking down twice on attempts to remove one Algerian who made antisemitic and pro-terrorism remarks on social media, and also prosecuting a mayor who refused to perform the wedding ceremony of another migrant under OQTF.
Paris said on Wednesday that it would review the 1968 pact which grants Algerian citizens exceptions to French immigration law, making it easier for them to settle there. Prime minister Francois Bayrou said
There is a strong feeling that the agreement has been betrayed.
Frustration with the migration deal has spiked since the killing of one person and injuring of three others in the Mulhouse stabbing on Saturday by an Algerian the authorities say they have long tried—and failed—to deport. The man shouted “Allahu Akbar” before proceeding with his bloody assault, and is now behind bars in France.
Unhelpfully, the CSA poll did not ask whether French voters would like the pact to be suspended whether Algeria starts accepting deportees or not.
