“A collective, unjust punishment, aimed indiscriminately at all Algerians, Moroccans or Tunisians. » More than 115 organizations working for the defense of human rights from three Maghreb countries and France denounce in these terms the restriction of the granting of visas by France in an appeal entitled “The policy of visas: discrimination and injustice”, published Thursday, September 15. That is one year after the French policy of reducing the issuance of visas to Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian nationals. And they ask the French authorities to “to reverse these discriminatory measures”.
On September 28, 2021, Gabriel Attal, then government spokesperson, announced “a drastic decision” reduction of visas by 50% for Algerians and Moroccans and 30% for Tunisians compared to the number of visas issued in 2020. It had been decided as a retaliatory measure against the authorities of these States, which were reluctant to give the green light for the return of their nationals present illegally on French soil.
An “unacceptable, dishonorable blackmail”
The many signatories of the appeal denounce this “unacceptable, dishonorable blackmail”. “These measures, which in fact attack human exchanges between peoples, produce on the contrary dramatic effects by pushing thousands of young and old (men, women and even children) to take crossings in the Mediterranean Sea at the risk of their life “, they warn.
In fact, France has almost dried up the issuance of visas. In total, some 179,000 visas were granted in 2021 for these three countries, a drop not of 50% as announced, but of 19% compared to 2020. Except that 2020 was, due to the pandemic, a year very low level.
Compared to pre-pandemic years, the drop was 77% compared to 2018 and 80% compared to 2017. A vertiginous drop that creates suffering and resentment, so many families have not been able to find each other, but also so many students, researchers, entrepreneurs who have not been able to continue their activity.
At the same time, a massive flow of skills
“This erroneous political decision will solve nothing except to flatter the most extremist and xenophobic theses in France and those of the supporters of a ‘fortress Europe'”, believe the signatories. However, this France, which is curling up, also facilitates certain recruitments. “This massive flow of skills (technical, medical and paramedical) seriously affects all sectors of activity”, deplore the call. According to him, just in the case of Tunisia, “more than 39,000 engineers and 3,300 doctors have left the country since 2015 and have been welcomed with open arms in Europe”.
In the midst of visa restrictions, the French Embassy in Tunisia welcomed the agreement, on June 29, between the French employers’ association of the French hotel and catering industry and Aneti, the Tunisian employment centre, for the recruitment of 4,000 Tunisian seasonal workers, in order to make up for the labor shortage in France.
For their part, the Algerians were in a state of shock, after France recruited 1,200 of their doctors last year after they passed the knowledge verification exam.