France said on Wednesday it would review a decades-old agreement that makes it easier for Algerian citizens to move to France unless Algeria agrees to take back those who are deported by the French authorities.

French Prime Minister François Bayrou announced his government was giving Algiers four to six weeks to accept to repatriate a list of people expelled from France.

France will reconsider a longstanding agreement facilitating Algerian migration to France unless Algeria cooperates by accepting deported nationals. Tensions escalated following an Algerian citizen's attack in Mulhouse.

France is threatening its former colony Algeria with the cancellation of its special status if the country does not take back Algerians expelled from France, according to Prime Minister François Bayrou on Wednesday.

Algeria said Thursday it “categorically rejects ultimatums and threats”, the Algerian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, after France threatened to cancel a longstanding agreement on free movement.

The already strained relations between Algeria and France escalated this week. French Prime Minister François Bayrou has threatened to cancel a long-standing agreement with Algeria regarding free movement,

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou threatened Wednesday to cancel a longstanding agreement with Algeria on free movement after a deadly knife attack in which the main suspect is a man of Algerian origin.