Spain Seeks to Mend Ties with Algeria Amid Energy Concerns

Despite the crisis, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has maintained contact with the Algerian authorities in the utmost discretion, government sources confirmed to El Español, stressing that the silence observed on both sides is a good sign. But these discreet contacts did not prevent Sonatrach, the Algerian national natural gas export company, from increasing the selling prices to Spain when renewing the gas contracts with Spanish companies.

Spain has reduced its energy dependence on Algeria by reducing its imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from that country in favor of the United States, which has become its main supplier of LNG. Meanwhile, Spain has normalized its relations with Morocco. The two countries held the high-level meeting on February 1 and 2 in Rabat, a meeting that allowed the signing of several cooperation agreements in various fields (transport, infrastructure, construction, renewable energies, etc.), which constitutes an opportunity for Spanish investors.

Algeria, an ally of the Polisario Front in the Sahara conflict, has still not digested Spain’s change of position in favor of Morocco. This decision by Pedro Sanchez to support the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara is considered, both by the Polisario Front and the Algerian government, as a "betrayal", even if Spain has specified that the solution to this conflict must come "from an agreement mutually acceptable to the two parties within the framework of the UN".

The tension between Madrid and Algiers is hard to ease. The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and his Algerian counterpart, Ramtane Lamamra, have not exchanged since last April, according to the sources consulted, who explain that the Algerian authorities are demanding the dismissal of Minister Albares, as Morocco did with Arancha González Laya in the Ghali case. Also, a change of government is highly likely in Spain after the general elections scheduled for December. Algeria should therefore not show any clear signs of openness towards Spain before these deadlines.