The crisis between Algiers and Madrid 

The crisis is taking on new proportions, with the involvement of Brussels, which has reacted twice to Algeria's decision to suspend the Treaty of Friendship with Spain.

On Thursday, a spokeswoman for the European Union considered the situation worrying and called on Algeria to reconsider its decision and on Friday, two senior EU officials clearly warned the Algerian government, going so far as to brandish the threat of retaliation.

After reacting for the first time through its embassy in Brussels on Friday, Algeria reacted a second time this Saturday, June 11 via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to respond to the European Union.

"Algeria deplores and rejects the hasty and unfounded statements made yesterday on behalf of the European Union following the sovereign decision taken by Algeria to suspend the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborhood and Cooperation binding it to Spain", denounced the department of Ramtane Lamamra in a press release.

The "precipitation" and the "bias" of these statements "highlight the inappropriateness of their content, as it concerns a political disagreement with a European country of a bilateral nature having no impact on the commitments of the 'Algeria with regard to the European Union and consequently in no way requiring the triggering of any European consultation for the purposes of collective reaction, "added the press release.

Algeria recalled that the decision to suspend the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation responds to "legitimate considerations, which are essentially due to the fact that the partner has released itself from obligations and essential values enshrined in this Treaty, thus taking on the responsibility of emptying this legal instrument of its substance and calling into question its relevance in the relations between the two parties to the said treaty. »

Ramtane Lamamra's department also recalls that Algeria "took care to publicly specify the scope of the precautionary measure that it was led to take to preserve the country's supreme moral and strategic interests in the face of acts detrimental to the object and purpose of the Treaty. »

On the suspension of foreign trade between Algeria and Spain, which has raised Brussels' concerns, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs replies that "obviously, the alleged suspension of trade and investment relations with Spain, spread in the said official European declarations, is hastily invoked without any basis, and the European Community authorities in this case have no legal basis to establish their competence in the matter. »

"This unfortunate intrusion is the act of a personality clearly committed to amplifying the theses of his national diplomacy to the detriment of the preservation of the well-understood interests of the European Union within which Algeria is honored to count many reliable and responsible friends and partners,” the Foreign Ministry lamented.

For Algeria, this "intrusion is all the more dubious and paradoxical in that it takes on the consistency of a vain attempt to pressure a southern country jealous of its national independence when compared with the circumspect posture of the European Commission in the recent case of a major commercial dispute concerning a key State of the Union which had to recall its ambassadors to two developed non-European States with which it had a conflict of interest. »

The department of Lamamra continues by affirming that Algeria has "always kept its commitments" within the framework of its Association Agreement with the EU and "legitimately endeavors to promote all the relevant aspects of this framework, in the transparency , despite the asymmetrical nature of the trade structure between the two parties and the imbalances preventing the development of a mutually beneficial economic partnership. »

Algeria qualifies as "fanciful" and "malicious the insinuations and questions relating to the question of the supply of gas to Spain, whereas even the President of the Republic himself had to solemnly affirm the determination of the Algerian party to fulfill its related contractual obligations. »

"Moreover, this question which concerns companies from both countries on a strictly commercial basis does not arise in the context of energy relations with the other purchasers of Algerian gas in the Euro-Mediterranean area who are fulfilling their contractual obligations. with the same good faith as Algeria,” the statement concluded.