A Spanish newspaper was informed by diplomatic sources that Algeria had “vetoed” the activities of the Spanish ambassador there and that he had since become reclusive and had stopped attending meetings and conferences with Algerian officials.
According to the daily “The Objective,” Fernando Moran Calvo Sotelo has become isolated at the official level in Algeria as a result of the diplomatic crisis between the two nations that has persisted since last March.
According to the newspaper, Spain has prolonged the mission of its ambassador to Algeria and is attempting to repair relations with the help of mediators who have good contacts with Algeria. Algeria has not sent its ambassador back to Madrid since last March.
According to the newspaper’s sources, the Algerian government shut down communication with the Spanish ambassador, and as a result, the Spanish embassy in Algeria’s official Twitter account was suspended.
The newspaper reports that Ambassador Moran, a seasoned diplomat who was appointed to his position in September 2018, was expected to return to Spain after four years in it, but the Spanish Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Alparis, decided to keep him there because of issues with gas supplies from Algeria to Spain.
Since Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez decided in March to back the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara, the former Spanish territory, to end a diplomatic crisis between Madrid and Rabat that has been going on for than a year, relations between Madrid and Algeria have been strained.
An image of a map displaying the Western Sahara
Early in June, in response, the Algerian government stopped a cooperation agreement with Spain, which had an impact on business dealings.
Additionally, on Thursday, the Spanish business “Naturgy” and the Algerian company “Sonatrach” agreed to reassess the prices at which gas is sold through the “Medgaz” pipeline, which connects the two nations across the Mediterranean.
For a long time, Algeria was Spain’s top gas supplier, primarily through the business “Medgaz,” which operates the pipeline connecting the two nations (Sonatrach owns 51 percent and Naturgy 49 percent).
However, with the termination of the transit pipeline to Morocco due to the non-renewal of the agreement on it after the rupture of relations between Algeria and Rabat in August 2021, the amounts started to decline.
Due to the poor diplomatic ties between Madrid and Algeria after the Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez opted to endorse the Moroccan autonomy plan, even the quantities delivered through “Medgaz” reduced.
In Algeria, the Spanish ambassador is “isolated.”
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