The Algerian mission to the European Union this Friday denounced “precipitation” on the part of the European Commission, by supporting Spain in the diplomatic crisis due to the suspension of the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighborly Relations, after assuring that the step taken by Algiers does not affect the agreement with the EU.
«The European Commission reacted without prior consultation or verification with the Algerian Government, to the suspension by Algeria of a bilateral political treaty with a European partner, in this case Spain, without ensuring that this measure does not directly affect any of the two or indirectly their commitments contained in the Algeria-EU Association Agreement”, the Algerian embassy before the European institutions has indicated in a statement.
The diplomacy of the North African country has denied that among the decisions adopted is to stop current transactions with Spain and adds that “it only exists in the minds of those who claim it and those who have rushed to stigmatize it.”
Regarding the supply of gas to Spain, the Algerian diplomatic mission insists that it is up to the commercial companies “to assume all their contractual commitments”.
Algeria announced on Wednesday the suspension of the good neighborly treaty with Spain, in force since 2002, while announcing the freezing of direct debits for foreign trade operations of products to and from Spain as of this Thursday. Algiers justifies the retaliation in the “unjustifiable” support of the Government of Pedro Sánchez to the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara,
After a meeting between the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, and the Economic Vice President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, in Brussels, the European Executive has stated that it will evaluate in detail the consequences of these measures, but already considers that, “in principle” , may violate Algeria’s Association Agreement with the EU.
The EU is Algeria’s main trading partner, accounting for 46.7 percent of total Algerian transactions, according to European Commission data for 2019.
