Nadia Calviño has insisted twice on the growing alignment of Algiers with Moscow | The European Union also offers to intervene in the diplomatic conflict
The spanish government internationalizes the conflict with Algeria and points to Algiers ties with Russia as a factor in his recent retaliation against Spain. On Friday, Minister José Manuel Albares traveled to Brussels to get the EU to deal with the issue of the trade freeze. This Monday, Vice President Nadia Calviño has said on two occasions that she sees the Algerian government increasingly aligned with Moscow. The opposition has criticized these statements as not being “intelligent” because they do not help reduce tension. The experts consulted by El Periódico de España, a newspaper of the same group, Prensa Ibérica, as this newspaper, doubt that the relationship between Algeria and Russia is behind the angry reaction of the Maghreb country.
In the morning, Vice President Calviño was asked if the Spanish shift in policy towards Western Sahara had been worth it, given Algeria’s reaction and the possible economic repercussions. “I recently had to chair the spring meetings of the main advisory body of the International Monetary Fund. Already then I saw that Algeria was increasingly aligned with Russia. Therefore, it has not surprised me so much how that has materialized & rdquor ;, has been his response on Catalunya Radio. Hours later, she insisted again before the journalists: “The priority now is that Algeria reconsider its actions and not carry out the actions of which it had warned […] I have been observing for a long time an alignment of Algeria with the positions of Russia.”
The Foreign Ministry has declined to comment to this newspaper on whether the position expressed by the vice president is also that of the head of Spanish diplomacy. José Manuel Albares also did not want to respond to the press this Monday.
“It does not seem to me that Algeria is obeying impositions from Moscow, as it is wanting to move & rdquor ;, he tells El Periódico de España Laurence Thieux, PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from the Autonomous University of Madrid. Along the same lines, he expresses himself in conversation with this newspaper Edward Soler, CIDOB senior researcher: “Neither Algeria nor Morocco are puppets: they decide when and how they are interested in approaching one or another international power. If Algeria were such a submissive country and loyal to Moscow, how is it that at this time of food crisis it has been with France and not with Russia that it has signed an agreement to increase its wheat reserves?”.
Algeria has a historical relationship with Russia (It is its main supplier of weapons and the Soviet Union was a support in the era against French colonialism). But it also has a relationship with the United States (with whom it reinforced against terrorism after 9/11) and very close relations with European countries such as France, Italy or Germany.
The current high tension with Algeria, which comes only a year after a similar high tension with Morocco, is already being used by the opposition in the political arena. The PP has disqualified this Monday the association made by Calviño of Algerian reprisals with his relationship with Russia. “If you want to give dialogue the opportunity, you have to create the conditions to make it possible, not to say that there is someone else behind it,” said the PP spokeswoman in the Foreign Affairs Committee of Congress, Valentina Martínez. “It’s not very smart”. The deputy secretary of Institutional of the PP, Esteban González Ponshas described as “surprising” and “little credible” the “argument” of the Government that Russia is behind Algeria’s pressure against Spain. He has given as an example the “excellent relations” that Algeria has with Italy.
SG @Ettoresequi against Algerian Ambassador Abdelkrim Touahria in view of the IV Vertex intergovernativo ???? di luglio. discuss your #Mediterraneanresult of the war in #Ukraine, #Energy and #sicurezzaalimentare. pic.twitter.com/ge7yS2H7xj
— Farnesina ?? (@ItalyMFA) June 13, 2022
Rome has been intensifying its relationship with Algeria in recent weeks, especially with regard to energy supply. A harmony that was reflected with the visit of Mario Draghi to Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in which the Italian Prime Minister and the Algerian President sealed a strategic agreement between the Italian public energy company ENI and the Algerian national oil company Sonatrach. Today, the Algerian ambassador to Italy has been preparing with his counterpart from the Foreign Ministry to prepare for the summit between the two countries in July.
European Union Mediation
If on Friday José Manuel Albares managed to transfer to Brussels the task of amending economic relations with Algeria (the Algerian banking association asked to freeze foreign trade payment accounts with Spain), this Monday Brussels has given indications that it can also help in diplomatic task.
The EU Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, Nabila Massrali, has said that the EU is in contact with the Algerian authorities to resolve the diplomatic crisis. want encourage dialogue to resolve differences” and adds that the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell is “ready to provide support if necessary & rdquor ;. In other words, to the explicit support given by Brussels to resolve the economic conflict, the EU adds that it would now also be willing to mediate diplomatically with Algeria.
This Monday, the German Deputy Foreign Minister, Katja Keul, met in Algiers with the head of Algerian diplomacy, Ramtane Lamamra. They have addressed, among other issues, “the consolidation of the association between Algeria and the European Union & rdquor ;.
One of the questions up in the air is what concrete steps the EU will take to force Algeria to lift the freeze on bank accounts used for payments for Spanish exports. Companies continue to complain that they cannot trade normally, and this despite the fact that Algeria assured in two statements, on Friday and Saturday, that this freezing was only “in the mind & rdquor; of those who were criticizing him, from Brussels to Spain.
The historical relations of Algeria and Russia
The Algeria-Russia relationship is old. Between 1954 and 1962, the country fought a war for independence from France in which hundreds of thousands of people died. Then, NATO countries supported France. On the other side was the Soviet Union.
Since then, Algiers looks favorably on Russia as “heiress & rdquor; of the USSR. But the North African country is “very jealous of its autonomy”, explains Eduard Soler. “It has never agreed to have a Russian naval base on its territory, for example, and they do not welcome the presence of Russian Wagner militias in Libya & rdquor ;, he explains. “There is harmony but with neutrality. During the Russian annexation of Crimea, for example, Algeria was neutral & rdquor ;.
Algeria “has its reasons for react independently of Russia” adds Laurence Thieux. “She feels totally ignored, she has not been consulted, she has not been warned of anything & rdquor ;.
What both analysts do foresee is that Algeria will try to take advantage of the scenario of international convulsion. It is already doing it with the hunger for gas that leads Italians or Spaniards to call Algiers to ask for guarantees or increases in supply. They will use the international situation to achieve better agreements in technology, supplies or international relations.