The Diplomat
The Government is finalising aid of up to 200,000 euros for businessmen who have seen their business with Algeria reduced to a minimum as a result of the diplomatic crisis with the country. This aid should be ready before 23 July, sources from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism confirmed to Europa Press.
The department now headed by Héctor Gómez had already indicated last March that the Government was discussing with Brussels the possibility of providing aid to the affected companies, after exports to the Maghreb country plummeted as a result of the crisis caused by the government’s decision to support Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara.
The sources consulted have indicated that this line of aid is being finalised and should be approved in the next few weeks, probably before the elections. In this sense, they assured that the current electoral period does not affect the processing and approval of this assistance.
The aid envisaged by the Government would not exceed the ‘de minimis’ threshold set by Brussels to require its approval prior to any possible state aid, 200,000 euros per beneficiary over a period of three years. “It is up to the member states to assess whether a specific measure involves state aid,” a Commission spokesperson told Europa Press, who did not want to comment on the government’s plans.
In this regard, he recalled that only if the threshold is exceeded must Brussels be notified in advance before delivering the aid to the beneficiaries, unless it is covered by some kind of exception, which is not the case on this occasion.
However, as Commerce indicated at the time, the Government consulted with Brussels to ensure that it could deliver this assistance to entrepreneurs, who have been complaining about their situation in recent months.
The latest figures from this department, consulted by Europa Press, offer a bleak picture. Exports to Algeria fell by 45.9% in 2022 compared to 2021, from 1,888 million euros to 1,021 million euros, a trend that continues at the start of 2023.
In the first three months of the year, only 30.2 million euros worth of exports had been made from Spain to this country, compared to 472.9 million euros in the same period in 2022, representing a drop of 93.6%, with a homogeneous impact on all sectors.
This sharp drop in exports shows that although the Algerian government said it had ordered the reversal of the instruction of the Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions (Abef) to block banking operations with Spain, which prevented exports, in practice trade remains paralysed. This measure was taken in parallel to the suspension of the Treaty of Amity a year ago.
With trade powers ceded to Brussels, the Government has sought the support of the European Commission from the outset. In the year that has passed, the problems encountered by Spanish businessmen in their commercial transactions with Algeria have been continuously reported.
For the time being, the EU executive has not taken any concrete action. EU sources recently told Europa Press that they are confident that the dialogue will enable “a solution to be found as soon as possible in order to re-establish trade and investment relations without obstacles”.
The European Commission is continuing to coordinate with the Spanish Government on this matter and will continue to assess “the implications of the Algerian restrictions, which are apparently incompatible with the Association Agreement” between the bloc and this country. “The EU is prepared to take action against any type of measure applied against a member state”, Brussels warned.
