Algeria-Spain Rift Deepens Over Western Sahara Dispute, Awaits New Spanish Government

"The irresponsible statements of Minister José Manuel Albares and Vice-President Nadia Calviño definitively ruin any possibility of normalizing relations with an unreliable government that practices lies and recklessness," said Amar Belani, ambassador in charge of the Western Sahara at the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to El Confidencial.

The ambassador deplored the remarks of Calviño, who accused Russia on Monday of having pushed Algeria to suspend trade exchanges with Spain. As for Minister Albares, he did not directly accuse Russia, but stressed, during his telephone conversations with deputies on Friday, that this country has prompted Algerian action against Spain, recalling that his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, had visited Algiers on May 10.

To read: Spanish Intelligence Warns of Potential Surge in Algerian Migration Amid Diplomatic Tensions

For Amar Belani, Algeria "awaits a new government" in Spain to "close the crisis", hoping for a reversal of position on the Sahara. If the leader of the Popular Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, arrives at the Moncloa, it is unlikely that he will call into question Sanchez’s decision. "We will not commit acts that break trust, as the government has done with the Polisario Front leader," he said on May 31, during his meeting in Rotterdam with the head of the Moroccan Executive, Aziz Akhannouch.

The Algerian diplomat believes that "another situation will prevail in Europe" with regard to the Sahara, at the end of the current term in Spain. "The association and fisheries agreements will have been definitively canceled and a crisis will break out between the EU and Morocco," predicts Belani, recalling that the European Union General Court (TGUE) has canceled these agreements with Rabat at the end of September because they included the Sahara and that Spain, by choosing to support the Moroccan autonomy plan, has also violated international law.