Algeria Clarifies: Trade with Spain Continues, Gas Supply Secure Amid EU Concerns

Responding to the statement from the European Commission condemning the suspension of the friendship agreement between Spain and Algeria, the Algerian embassy to the EU stated in a letter that trade between the two countries has not been suspended and that Spain’s gas supply will not be cut off, contrary to what the Algerian press had announced.

"This alleged measure to suspend commercial transactions with Spain, a European partner, only exists in the minds of those who announced it and then hastened to denounce it," the embassy said in its letter, denying that the Algerian authorities had ordered the suspension of imports and exports with Spain.

To read: EU Demands Algeria Reverse Suspension of Spain Friendship Treaty

The Professional Association of Banking and Financial Institutions (APBEF) sent a note on June 8 to all Algerian bank directors asking them to "freeze withdrawals and foreign trade operations of products and services to and from Spain," which amounts to ending all trade. Several Spanish exporters acknowledged the next day that they had been informed of this measure.

The European Commission "should have ensured that this measure [taken by Algiers] does not directly or indirectly affect the commitments included in the 2005 Algeria-EU association agreement," the embassy explains, deploring "the haste with which the European Commission reacted, without first verifying the information with the Algerian government."