Marine Le Pen reignited the tug-of-war over OQTFs with Algeria on Friday, May 22, 2026, from the BFMTV-RMC Face-to-Face. Calling for dialogue while refusing a France that “kneels,” the RN parliamentary leader targets the government’s appeasement strategy. Meanwhile, Paris says cooperation on migration has only partially resumed.
A Firm Formula Against the Appeasement Line
In the interview reported by BFMTV-RMC, Marine Le Pen expresses her wish to speak with Algiers to defend French interests. However, she accuses the government of confusing dialogue with concession. Her line, “we do not have to kneel before Algeria,” sums up an old RN political stance: turning the Franco-Algerian relationship into a test of sovereignty.
The sequence comes after several signs of diplomatic warming. Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, had just traveled to Algiers. He mentioned on Europe 1 the idea of a friendship treaty between the two countries, still distant in his view. The government defends a demanding dialogue approach. The Quai d’Orsay presents this as necessary to achieve results on security, migration, and economic matters.
Marine Le Pen responds by bringing the debate back to expulsions. She demands that Algeria take back more Algerian nationals targeted by an obligation to leave French territory. She links this issue to the broader political disputes between Paris and Algiers. These accusations remain partisan statements: they are not sufficient on their own to establish the real level of consular cooperation.
Why Consular Travel Documents Matter
An OQTF is an administrative removal decision made by the prefect, notably in cases of irregular stay or refusal of a residence permit, according to the official Service-Public fact sheet. Its enforcement then depends on concrete conditions: possible appeals, individual circumstances, availability of a travel document, and the destination country’s agreement.
This is where the consular travel document becomes central. When the person concerned does not have a valid passport, the country of origin must issue a document allowing removal. In the case of OQTFs involving Algeria, this step has taken on a diplomatic dimension, because the blocking or resumption of these documents directly measures cooperation between the two states.
In early May, Laurent Nuñez confirmed the resumption of expulsions of Algerians in irregular situations. According to BFMTV, citing the Minister of the Interior, more than 140 removals had been carried out since the beginning of 2026. In addition, 120 consular travel documents were issued since his visit to Algiers in mid-February. The minister nonetheless acknowledged that “more must be done.”
A Real Resumption, But Still Limited
The government presents these figures as proof that the method is producing effects. Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, defended in the National Assembly a “very demanding” dialogue with Algiers. Furthermore, he believes that migration and security cooperation resumed after a year of complete blockage.
This resumption does not resolve everything. The numbers cited are dated government statements, not a comprehensive administrative account of OQTFs targeting Algerian nationals. They mainly indicate that an operational channel has reopened. They do not yet allow concluding a lasting normalization, nor assessing how many removal decisions remain unexecuted.
The tension also goes beyond the migration dossier alone. Franco-Algerian relations have severely deteriorated since summer 2024, after Paris’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. Since then, consular, judicial, and security exchanges have advanced in stages, between gestures of resumption and political mistrust.
The 2027 Presidential Election in the Background
For Marine Le Pen, this issue offers a clear marker ahead of the 2027 presidential election: contrasting the RN’s claimed firmness with the government’s gradual diplomacy. The topic also allows her to link immigration, sovereignty, and the protection of French nationals detained or harassed in Algeria, without delving into the administrative details of each OQTF.
Two names add extra weight to this sequence. Boualem Sansal, a Franco-Algerian writer, was pardoned and released in November 2025 after being detained in Algeria. Christophe Gleizes, a French sports journalist, remains imprisoned: Reporters Without Borders reminded on May 5, 2026 that he had been sentenced to seven years in prison, a sentence upheld on appeal in December 2025, and that he was awaiting a possible pardon from President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
The central point is therefore less the offhand remark than what it reveals about the balance of power. Expulsions of Algerians under OQTFs have indeed resumed, but at a gradual pace and depending on consular travel documents. Marine Le Pen makes it a political test of sovereignty. The government, for its part, is trying to show that dialogue with Algiers is already producing results, without yet closing the debate.