France vowed swift retaliation after Algeria ordered a new round of mass expulsions of French diplomats, in the latest flare-up of a spiralling political feud between the two countries.

During a visit to Calvados, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot condemned Algeria’s latest move, describing it as “neither in the interest of Algeria nor in the interest of France”.

“The departure of agents on temporary assignments is unjustified and unjustifiable”, Barrot told reporters in Pont-l’Évêque, northern France.

“We will respond immediately, firmly and proportionately, as we did last month, to this attack on our interests.”

Barrot’s statement follows Algeria’s decision on Sunday to order the deportation of all French employees appointed to diplomatic, consular and cultural missions in Algeria who, according to Algerian authorities, were assigned “outside the approved official frameworks and procedures”.

The Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the French chargé d’affaires in Algiers to deliver the request in person.

The move comes amid what officials on both sides now describe as the most serious diplomatic crisis between Paris and Algiers in years—one rooted in espionage suspicions, tit-for-tat expulsions, and diverging political stances, particularly over Western Sahara.

Algerian officials say at least 15 French employees were recently sent to Algeria without proper accreditation, in what they say constitutes a “serious and repeated” breach of diplomatic norms.

Two of those employees reportedly belonged to the French Interior Ministry and were believed to be stepping in for French intelligence agents who had previously been declared persona non grata.

“These are individuals who originally held passports for short-term missions and were later issued diplomatic passports to facilitate their presence in Algeria,” an unnamed Algerian official told the state-run news agency APS.

Algiers didn’t reveal the number of French personnel it now demands to be repatriated.

This comes just weeks after it expelled 12 French security personnel in retaliation for the arrest of an Algerian consular officer in Paris on 8 April, accused by French authorities of involvement in an attempted kidnapping of an Algerian dissident.

Paris swiftly expelled 12 Algerian diplomatic staff, some of whom it said were linked to Algerian security services.

The French ambassador to Algiers, Stéphane Romatet, was summoned back to Paris for consultations in one of the highest diplomatic escalations between the two states.

At the centre of the crisis is a broader loss of trust, further complicated by a complex post-colonial relationship.

Algeria accuses France of routinely flouting agreed diplomatic procedures, while also pointing to obstacles faced by its own diplomats in France.

The North Africa state says several Algerian consuls have been left in limbo, with at least nine still awaiting accreditation months after their nomination. It also cites repeated denials of entry to Algerian diplomatic passport holders by French border officials.

Tensions began to spike in July 2024, after France shifted its position on Western Sahara, expressing support for Morocco’s autonomy initiative—a red line for Algiers, which backs the separatist movement of Polisario in the territory.

The rift widened further in the autumn with the arrest of Algerian French writer Boualem Sansal, 80, over remarks made on the far-right French platform Frontières, which were deemed an attack on Algeria’s territorial integrity.

Efforts at de-escalation, including an April phone call between President Emmanuel Macron and his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, as well as Barrot’s visit to Algiers in early April, initially raised hopes of renewed cooperation.

However, the arrest of the Algerian diplomat days later derailed the reconciliation process.

Algeria has since blamed conservatives within the French government, namely Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, for sabotaging the fragile diplomatic thaw.

Despite losing his parliamentary majority in last year’s elections, Macron remains the ultimate authority on France’s foreign policy.

He has consistently called for dialogue and reconciliation, in contrast to some hardline ministers who are threatening to dismantle post-independence agreements with Algeria.

Reports indicate that there are tensions between him and the right-wing ministers in his cabinet, particularly regarding Algeria.

With the right wing moonwalking to Matignon—and perhaps eventually the Élysée—any fragile reconciliation efforts that France has made with Algeria could soon be undone.