The Diplomat
The First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, acknowledged yesterday that she is not “surprised” by the Algerian Government’s latest decisions regarding Spain because this Maghreb country is “aligned with Russia”.
“I had to chair the IMF spring meetings, and already then I saw that Algeria was more aligned with Russia. I am not at all surprised to see how that materializes,” Calviño declared during an interview to Catalunya Radio in relation to the decision of the Maghreb regime to suspend the Friendship Treaty with Spain and to threaten to interrupt trade relations.
In any case, according to Calviño, the supply of gas from Algeria is guaranteed. The Algerian government has repeatedly assured that at no time has it threatened to impose commercial reprisals on Spain and this past Sunday, after a meeting of the Council of Ministers to address this bilateral crisis, the Foreign Minister, Ramtane Lamamra, described as “fanciful and malicious” the “insinuations and questions relating to the issue of gas supplies to Spain”.
Last Friday, following a visit by Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares to Brussels to discuss this issue, the European Commission explicitly warned that any measure against trade flows between Spain and Algeria would violate the EU-Algeria Association Agreement. Likewise, a spokeswoman for the European Union assured yesterday that it is in contact with the Algerian authorities to “encourage dialogue” and that the High Representative, Josep Borrell, “is ready to provide support if necessary”.
