Algeria and Spain are going through an acute political crisis. This crisis has had a considerable impact on trade. Spain appealed to the European Union in this conflict to put pressure on Algeria. An attitude that Algeria continues to condemn.
Thus, in this tense context between Algeria and Spain, which is blocking certain commercial operations between the two countries, the Spanish government has appealed to the European Union. José Manuel Albares, Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, explained recently that “every time we detect a blocked operation, we continue to send it to the European Commission, because commercial policy is a common commercial policy”. And to add: “it is the EU which has the instruments, both for dialogue and for the response, and there are contacts between the European and Algerian authorities”. This is how Albares had expressed himself on the possible steps that could be taken against Algeria for its actions within the framework of the Association Agreement between the Twenty-seven and Algeria.
This approach is not at all to the taste of Algiers. Indeed, the position of the European Union on the conflict with Spain has been denounced on several occasions by Algeria, which underlines the “bias” of Brussels in favor of Madrid. On Thursday February 16, Algeria reaffirmed this position. Indeed, in response to statements made by Denis Redonnet, Deputy Director General of the European Commission’s Directorate General for International Trade, a senior official at the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Brussels of “knowingly maintaining confusion between the political and commercial dimensions” of the crisis between Algeria and Spain.
This official, who spoke in a statement to the official news agency (APS), criticizes the European Commission official for remaining silent on the “obstructive attitude” of the Spanish government, which is “blocking the adoption priorities of the partnership, negotiated and finalized for many months, within the framework of the European neighborhood policy”.
The senior Algerian official also accuses Europe of keeping silent “about the irresponsible attitude of this same country, Spain, which abuses the rule of consensus to block the convening of the Association Council, a political body statutory body responsible for discussing all questions, whether political, economic or commercial”. He concludes that “these gestures and pressures from Spain are counterproductive” and “do not impress us much”.
This article is originally published on observalgerie.com
