Spain Delays Algeria Summit as Morocco Tensions Complicate Diplomacy
Spain has decided to postpone its summit with Algeria, scheduled for October after an eight-year hiatus. The decision comes days before Felipe VI’s visit to Sebta and Melilla. Madrid cites the upcoming elections, but also acknowledges the impact of tensions with Morocco.
The rapprochement had been well under way. In July, Pedro Sánchez travelled to Algiers to revive relations between the two countries, strained for four years. He and President Abdelmadjid Tebboune agreed to hold a meeting between the two governments in Madrid, the first since 2018. Three months later, the meeting has been postponed.
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According to the Spanish daily El País, whose report was confirmed on Thursday, 8 October, by government sources, Madrid now prefers to wait until the early general election on 29 November. Holding such an important summit just weeks before the vote would make little sense, the government says.
But the diplomatic calendar also looks complicated. On Tuesday, 13 October, Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are expected in Sebta, before travelling to Melilla the following day. The royal visit, long feared by Madrid because of possible reactions from Morocco, comes after tensions sparked this summer by the mass arrival of migrants in Sebta.
Sebta crisis spills over into relations with Algiers
A Spanish government source also acknowledged to El País that the crisis had not made it easier to organize the meeting with Algiers. The summit had never been given a definitive date, however, allowing Madrid to postpone it without cancelling an officially scheduled meeting.
The stakes go well beyond a scheduling issue. In March 2022, Pedro Sánchez’s support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara triggered a sudden break with Algiers. Trade was severely disrupted, while supplies of Algerian gas to Spain continued.
Since then, the two capitals have been trying to restore ties. During his July visit, Sánchez notably secured an agreement to increase gas supplies. The Medgaz pipeline, which directly connects Algeria to Spain, still has spare capacity, while purchases of liquefied natural gas could be doubled.
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The economic stakes are considerable. In 2025, trade between Spain and Algeria reached 8.5 billion euros, including 6.3 billion euros in Algerian exports, mainly energy products. More than a hundred Spanish companies also operate in the Algerian market.
In Algiers, officials have not officially commented on the postponement. A newspaper close to the presidency did, however, make a point of clarifying that no visit to Spain by Tebboune had been planned. The meeting announced in July was supposed to bring together the two countries’ heads of government, not their presidents.
