The reversal of the Spanish government on the Western Sahara file has very serious consequences for relations with Algeria.
Since the announcement by the latter of the suspension of the treaty of friendship, good neighborliness, and cooperation with Spain, on June 8, the repercussions on cooperation and exchanges between the two countries are numerous.
While politicians and businessmen complain about the blockage of trade between the two countries, the Spanish press reports on the repercussions of the crisis on cooperation in the security field, particularly in the fight against terrorism.
By choosing Morocco last March, whose autonomy plan for Western Sahara it decided to support, the government of Pedro Sanchez had put forward the interests of his country, considering that the kingdom is an important partner in particular in the fight against the flow of migrants.
The historic reversal also occurred after a serious quarrel between the two states in which Morocco exercised migratory blackmail by letting thousands of migrants storm the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
The socialist government seems to have lost sight of the importance of Algeria as a security partner, in addition to being a first-rate economic partner.
Four months after the start of the crisis, there are reports in Spain of reduced cooperation from Algeria on security issues. According to the newspaper El Espanol, Algeria has drastically reduced its cooperation with Spain in recent months, cutting off all kinds of exchanges with the secret services and other security services that are not “essential or vital”.
The newspaper, citing sources from the Ministry of the Interior and State Intelligence, reports that “the flow of information with their Algerian counterparts has diminished since Pedro Sánchez’s decision to support the Moroccan plan for the autonomy of the Sahara under his sovereignty. “.
Thus, adds the same source, the two countries continue to cooperate on terrorist issues, but with much “less intensity than before”.
The flow of relevant data from specialists in the field in Algeria is at “its minimum level”, is limited to alerts to counter-terrorism experts about dangerous profiles that manage to enter Spanish territory after starting from the Algerian coasts.
After the beef, the lamb
El Espanol sources indicate that Algeria has, for example, warned in recent months against the entry “into Europe of radicals using the routes of illegal immigration in boats that arrive in Spain from the Algerian coasts”.
“At least the minimums are respected”, indicate the same sources, assuring that Algeria has warned the Spaniards in recent months of the entry by this route of dangerous Islamists, for the most part, “radicals” who have served their sentence in Algeria.
On another note, the Spanish press reports the repercussions of the crisis on Spanish exports of beef and lamb.
According to Cadenas Ser radio, Spanish professionals deplore that purchases of live beef and lamb from Spanish producers have slowed down from the Maghreb. A drop that can only be explained by the cessation of orders from Algeria.
All these fallouts should put the government of Pedro Sanchez in even greater difficulty, much criticized internally for having jeopardized relations with a first-rate partner both economically and in terms of security cooperation.
