Algeria Expresses Reservations About The EU Trade Demands’ Dominance

The meeting of the Partnership Council between the European Union and Algeria started in Brussels on Monday, and the session noticed talks between the Foreign Minister, Abdelkader Messahel, and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini.

Talks focused on the developments in the region, the fight against terrorism and extremism, issues that are related to the implementation of the priorities of the bilateral partnership that was adopted on March,13, 2017, ways of regional cooperation, and the prevention and combating terrorism and extremism, according to a statement that was issued by the European Union.

Algeria and the European Union are linked with a cooperation agreement for 2020, governance, the rule of law, political dialogue, and the promotion of fundamental rights and cooperation and socio-economic development, including trade and access to the united European market, energy, environment and sustainable development, strategic and security dialogue and the human dimension, including cultural and religious dialogue, migration and movement of persons.

The speech by the Foreign Minister revealed an imbalance in relationships between Algeria and the European Union, which was behind Messahel’s call for a “balance of interests between the two parties”, which he said was “valid” also for trade issues and “concerns” which the European Union raises regarding its shares in the Algerian market following the “import rationalization measures” that are adopted by the Algerian government in the context of a “special circumstance”.

Although the two sides agree on many cooperation issues, but the disagreement over the trade dimension remained in this agreement, which was expressed earlier by the director of cooperation with the European Union and European bodies at the Foreign Ministry, Ali Mokrani, who confirmed that the trade dominate the bilateral relationships in favor of the European Union, which led to the establishment of a diversified economy with the support of the European Union.