Algeria’s decision to suspend the friendship treaty with Spain in June 2022 was not without direct consequences on the Iberian economy, some of which have been severely impacted.
Indeed. According to the National Association of Manufacturers of Ceramic Frits, Enamels and Pigments (ANFFECC), these losses amount to 40 million euros since the beginning of the crisis,
“This sum represents a net loss for Spanish companies, which are struggling to find new outlets in the short term,” the association also notes, demanding from the Spanish government “a diplomatic solution to the conflict as soon as possible.”
Spanish exports to Algeria have also fallen significantly since the Algerian authorities decided on June 8, 2022, to suspend the friendship treaty and all commercial operations between the two countries, with the exception of gas supplies.
According to data published by the Spanish Ministry of Commerce on its website, losses are estimated at 630 million euros, just for the period from June to October 2022.
The freeze on cooperation has led to a drop of more than 80% in Spanish exports to Algeria. Nearly 130,000 Spanish companies have ceased to have trade agreements with Algeria, according to data from ICEX España Exportacion e Inversiones (public commercial entity for the promotion of the economy and businesses).
While between June 2021 and March 2022 there were more than $1.6 billion in exports to Algeria, data from the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism show that in September 2023, losses were in the order of 99.7%.
Spanish entrepreneurs are therefore “impatiently” awaiting the reestablishment of relations with Algeria.
But for this, the Spanish Government, whose leader Pedro Sanchez, triggered a “political and diplomatic catastrophe between Algiers and Madrid” in the opinion of the Spaniards themselves, had to first correct its trajectory regarding the just and noble cause of the Sahrawis.
In this context, it should be recalled that the decision to suspend the Algerian-Spanish Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation responds to legitimate considerations, which essentially relate to the partner having disengaged itself from essential obligations and values enshrined in this Treaty, thus taking responsibility for emptying this legal instrument of its substance and calling into question its relevance in relations between the two parties to the said Treaty.
