Spanish companies intend to sue the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, to demand compensation for the heavy losses that befell them about a year after Algeria decided to sever its commercial relations with Mourid, as a result of the change in the Spanish position on the issue of Western Sahara towards supporting the autonomy proposal in Morocco .
The newspaper “The Independent”, which reported the news, stated that a mechanism to approach the judiciary was agreed upon by about twenty companies based in Spain, most of which are small and medium-sized companies with a large presence in the Algerian market. The companies base their claim on the fact that the change of the Spanish government’s position in the dispute over Western Sahara, after 47 years of active neutrality, has caused economic losses that are increasing daily, which is an unbearable scenario in the medium and long term and endangers the continuation of some companies.
The aim of the lawsuit, according to the same source, is to obtain compensation for the damages suffered by the companies after Algeria cut off its commercial relations, so that it is estimated that the losses of all Spanish companies that have dealings in Algeria now exceed 600 million euros. These losses are represented in Algeria not receiving orders that were reserved, refusing to receive containers coming from Spain, and disrupting the process of paying for the materials that were imported after stopping the bank settlement of import operations from Spain a year ago.
The companies base their claim on the fact that the change in the position of the Spanish government in the dispute over Western Sahara, after 47 years of active neutrality, has caused them losses.
The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism led by Reyes Maroto has been the interlocutor so far with the affected businessmen. According to the newspaper, this minister, who ran for the position of mayor of Madrid and is from the Socialist Workers Party, admitted in his talks with companies that the government did not appreciate the consequences of changing its position on the issue of Western Sahara on its relations with Algeria. Senior officials in the ministry called on businessmen to change their destination and move away from Algeria for the time being, and blamed them for "putting all their eggs in the same basket."
And in light of Algeria’s refusal of any contact with the Spanish government, the crisis between the two countries that erupted last March entered its first year, as the Algerian ambassador in Madrid is still in his country after being summoned for consultations, while all the mediations that the European Union tried to carry out did not succeed. Pushing Algeria to back down from its position, which it considers principled.
In his statements a month ago to the Spanish news agency “Europe Press”, the Spanish Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Albaris, revealed “that his country’s government has abandoned its desire to restore the situation to normal through direct dialogue with Algeria.” And he highlighted that “Brussels, not Madrid, is the one that has to act, because it has the necessary mechanisms to do so,” referring to the violation of the measures taken by Algeria against the entry of Spanish goods to the partnership agreement between it and the European Union that entered into force in 2005.
Albaris stated that the resumption of commercial operations as soon as possible between Spain and Algeria is "beneficial to both parties," noting that his country has not done anything to impede commercial operations. The Spanish minister stated that his country notifies the European Commission whenever it discovers a commercial operation prohibited by Algeria because, according to him, the matter affects “the common trade policy between the countries of the European Union, and there are tools for dialogue and means of pressure that the European Union can activate, and contacts have already begun between the two parties.”
Algeria is waiting for a clear position from Spain on the issue of Western Sahara, according to which it will back down from adopting the Moroccan autonomy proposal. Ammar Blani, Secretary-General of the Algerian Foreign Ministry, had said last June, in statements to the Spanish newspaper "Confidential", that it would be necessary to wait for a new government to end the crisis, correcting the current trend with regard to the Western Sahara issue. Blaney believes, according to his statement, that by the end of the Spanish legislature, “another situation will prevail in Europe” with regard to Western Sahara.
The crisis with Spain continues since last March 19, in which Algeria announced the withdrawal of its ambassador from Madrid, and the matter evolved into the Algerian presidency announcing the immediate suspension of the friendship treaty with it.
Last year, the Sanchez government faced great pressure from Spanish institutions. Spanish exports to Algeria decreased, for example, by 235 million euros in June and July 2022, in which a ban was applied on the entry of Spanish products to Algeria after the decision to suspend the friendship treaty between the two countries. , While Algerian official figures indicate that the volume of trade exchange between Algeria and Madrid was about $9 billion, before the current crisis.
The crisis between Algeria and Spain continues since the date of last March 19, in which Algeria announced the withdrawal of its ambassador from Madrid, and the matter evolved into the Algerian presidency announcing the immediate suspension of the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation concluded with the Kingdom of Spain in 2002. The Algerian presidency stated in its justifications that this decision came Against the backdrop of “the Spanish authorities embarking on a campaign to justify the position they adopted on Western Sahara, which is a violation of their legal, moral and political obligations to the authority responsible for the territory, which rests with the Kingdom of Spain until the decolonization of Western Sahara is declared by the United Nations.”
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