Algeria has dismissed the finance minister responsible for freezing trade with Spain | Community sources confirm that they already speak with the parties to the conflict
The Foreign Ministry will try in the coming days to keep a low profile regarding the crisis with Algeria, to help channel it. José Manuel Albares has tried to get the different parties in Congress to keep the criticism in a moderate tone that allows the situation with the North African country to be deflated. Spanish diplomacy awaits the next steps from Brussels, which is already working to help resolve the conflict. “The Commission is in contact and in dialogue with all the parties involved& rdquor ;, ensure community sources.
From Algeria the tone has been raised again. In an opinion piece loaded with insults towards Albares (“guignolesque”, “arsonist”, “unworthy”, “disrespectful”), the official APS news agency has accused the Spanish minister of “aggravating” the conflict by insinuating that Algeria’s relationship with Russia is behind the escalation in the diplomatic and economic conflict. Diplomatic sources reply that the note is based on a false premise and that Albares has not pointed it out to Moscow. Regarding the insults, the same sources point out that Spain is now seeking to lower the tension and they will not respond.
But, at the same time, in Algiers there are signs that the conflict is being reconsidered. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has dismissed the country’s finance minister, Abderrahman Raouya. Although no explanations have been given, the expulsion comes a few days after the European reprimand of Algeria for having decided to freeze, precisely, the financial transactions related to Spanish exports and imports.
Calls to parliamentary groups
Albares has been avoiding making statements since last Friday. Yes, he has done several personal calls to various congressional leaders to explain and ask for help.
The Government tries to avoid the possibility that a majority of parliamentary groups agree to request the appearance of Pedro Sánchez before the plenary session of Congress and thus explain the state of relations with Algeria. The Board of Spokespersons next week will analyze the proposal that the PP has registered for this purpose, already endorsed by the Bureau. If it achieved the support of the opposition, it would produce a scenario identical to the one experienced almost a month ago, when the Chamber issued the request of the majority of the formations, except the PSOE, to debate the visit to Rabat that took place in early May. It was a political defeat for the government. The go-ahead for one more appearance would be another defeat.
Parliamentary sources consulted by El Periódico de España, newspaper of the same group, Prensa Ibérica, as this newspaper, have reported that during the round of conversations that Albares had with the spokespersons of the groups in the Commission of the branch, last Friday, he transmitted three messages, which are actually two intentions and a thesis.
The first of the intentions has to do with deflate the national political conflict. The idea would be that the Board of Spokespersons of Congress next week leaves a majority that says “no” to the PP’s request to appear. The sources have considered this cooling off to be adequate, although Albares has not escaped political criticism for that reason. The turn taken in the territorial struggle of Western Sahara, which affects Morocco, the Polisario Front and Algeria itself, continues to hurt among the left-wing allies, starting with United We Can.
Albares also spoke with the PP spokesperson in the Foreign Affairs Committee, Valentina Fernández. The popular deputy, in statements to Europa Press, insisted last Monday that if Algeria considers the Good Neighbor Treaty broken and breaks commercial relations, it is due to the succession of decisions adopted by the Government of Pedro Sánchez. The minister reiterated the request for prudence.
The second intention that the minister handled points directly to the European Union. Albares, as he explained in his conversations, did not speak before with the parliamentary groups because since Wednesday he has worked to meticulously build an action plan and a solid argument. That happened by working on European ties, and so, on Friday, in Brussels, he achieved a unequivocal position on the EU, bluntly against the determination of Algiers. “Brussels considers that the Algerian movements go against Spanish autonomy when it comes to foreign policy & rdquor ;, explain socialist sources.
diplomatic channel open
However, the diplomatic route cannot be closed and this is the one that Albares will explore. That was what he told the spokesmen, the sources consulted indicate: “There is an open window for dialogue and we must take advantage of it”were his words, in the version of one of the sources to which this medium has been addressed.
For this process to take hold, and more through the channels of diplomacy, discretion and prudence are essential. The minister affirmed last Friday in Brussels that the current moment demands a joint political position, a country action rather than a party action. In similar terms he expressed himself with the parliamentary interlocutors. Caution is an attitude that Albares, in fact, is already practicing. He needs, however, that the behavior is shared by the opposition. He has asked the PP and he has asked his allies, but without much luck. Podemos personalized in the president the responsibility for the open crisis with Algeria and more or less the same has been done by the PP.
Sánchez responded at the electoral rally that he starred in last Saturday, within the framework of the Andalusian campaign. He accused the popular led by Alberto Nunez Feijoo to be the same party as “always”, capable of aligning itself with Algeria before with Spain. He has not been the only socialist leader to resort to that line of argument. The socialist spokesman in Congress, Héctor Gómez, did not hesitate to do so this Tuesday in Huelva.
They have been public interventions, but the Government has not only moved in this sphere to criticize the PP. Parliamentary sources have indicated that this Tuesday Albares has held a second round of talks, although not with all the parliamentary spokesmen. With whom he has spoken by telephone, he has commented on his disappointment at the attitude of Feijóo’s party. Always according to the version of the sources, in the Executive the idea is settled that the popular leadership has historical connections with Algerian businessmen, and that is precisely what prevails in Genoa. Between 2001 and 2003, the Government of José María Aznar strengthened its relations with Algeria after a harsh crisis with Morocco that ended with the construction of a Medgaz underwater gas pipeline between the Maghreb country and Almería.
The thesis that the head of Spanish diplomacy shared on Friday with the spokesmen implicates Russia. The sources consulted say that this connection already slipped on Friday. He outlined an Algiers-Moscow-Caracas axis as the cause of the hostility shown by the Algerian political-military leadership. The economic vice president, Nadia Calviño, used this argument on Monday. The PP does not like the thesis. The person in charge of Institutional Politics of the party, Esteban González Pons, crossed out this thesis of “idiotic excuse”.
Checking the business situation
La Moncloa, meanwhile, is trying to verify whether or not there is normality in trade relations with Algeria, through the Commercial Office in Algeria. The situation is confused because Algeria issued two statements denying that it had frozen bilateral trade. However, Spanish companies continue to have problems. The paper mill Saica, for example, has recognized this Tuesday that it cannot trade with Algeria because bank transactions are still frozen, reports El Periódico de Aragón, belonging to the same group as this newspaper. Saica exports 110 million euros of the 2,900 million total Spanish trade with the Maghreb country.
The government spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, has said that they will defend the interests of Spanish companiesbut has refused to specify out of prudence if there are diplomatic contacts between the two countries or if the Government shares with its vice president, Nadia Calviño, that Algeria is increasingly aligned with Russia.