Spain reacted for the first time this Thursday, June 9 to Algeria’s decision to suspend the Treaty of Friendship which has linked the two countries for 20 years.
Algeria announced on Wednesday, June 8 the suspension of the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation with Spain, as a sign of retaliation for the reversal of the Spanish government on the conflict in Western Sahara.
This announcement was made by the Algerian presidency, which clearly reproached Spain for its support for Moroccan theses concerning the occupied territories of Western Sahara.
On the same day, the Association of Banks and Financial Institutions (Abef) announced the freezing of bank domiciliations for foreign trade operations of products to and from Spain from this Thursday, June 9. It is not known whether this measure includes the export of natural gas: the note from the Abef, widely shared on Algerian social networks, does not specify it.
A blow for the Spanish economy, Spain is one of the most important suppliers of Algeria with exports of more than two billion dollars in 2020 against 4 billion in 2019. Spain is also the second customer of Algeria behind Italy and its imports from Algeria consist mainly of gas.
The decision to freeze the Friendship Treaty with Spain worries Madrid, which reacted on Thursday through the voice of the Spanish Minister of Energy, Teresa Ribera.
“A delicate moment”
Algeria is a major gas supplier to Spain. Despite this serious diplomatic quarrel, Teresa Ribera declared this Thursday, June 9 that she was convinced that Algeria will respect its contractual commitments in terms of gas supply.
“We will not think that (the contracts) can be terminated unilaterally by a decision of the Algerian government,” she said in an interview with Onda Cero radio.
However, the Minister acknowledged that this crisis comes at a delicate time, knowing that the supply contracts are currently subject to a price review process.
At the end of last April, the Algerian Ministry of Energy clearly threatened to break the supply contracts if Spain decides to supply Morocco with Algerian gas.
On April 24, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune assured that Algeria “will not renounce its commitment to supply Spain with gas, whatever the circumstances”.
