Brussels, 04/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - On 3 February, Algeria and the European Commission “closed their consultations”, which enabled them to jointly assess the application of the association agreement, questioned by the Algerian government and the country's economic community as they believe it has had an entirely negative impact on Algeria's trade and investment flows.
The association agreement ultimately appears to only benefit the northern side of the Mediterranean which therefore explains Algeria's wish to renegotiate it. This view is supported by the Algerian business community, explains the daily newspaper Le Jour d'Algérie, which sums up the general tone of the local press too.
The European Commission underlines “the need to protect the interests of each partner in respect of their legal obligations resulting from the agreement”. The affair goes back to the end of 2008. Catherine Ashton, the then European commissioner for external trade, sent Algiers a letter on 12 June 2009, requesting the retroactive cancelling of the obligation of foreign import companies to pay 30% duty to Algeria. The EU considered that such measures constituted a restriction on trade and investment, and was in blatant contradiction with the provisions and spirit of the association agreement.
If the European communiqué is to be believed, the perceptible tension over recent months will only have been slightly mitigated. Obviously, it will be necessary to await the response from Algeria in order to be sure about what change of tone has been adopted. Whatever happens, the Commission believes that “Algeria has provided clarification with regard to the context and objectives of the measures on investment and trade introduced by the complimentary law on finance”, indicated a press release, without going into further detail. The Commission indicated in this press release that discussions with the Algerians “focused on trade, WTO accession, energy co-operation, investments, agriculture and fisheries”. In the financial arena, the text published in Algiers explained that consultations had revealed Algerian concerns about the balance of trade, progress in negotiations towards joining the WTO, and the impact of the implementation of the association agreement. Nonetheless, it did indicate that, contrary to Algerian claims, there had been a positive trend in foreign direct investment in Algeria from the EU and that implementation of the agreement in terms of trade had not had a negative impact. The European delegation, headed by Tomás Dupla del Moral, Director for the Mediterranean at the European Commission, reaffirmed that its aim was to “provide a new boost to the implementation of the association agreement and generate far-reaching discussions on the dossiers being examined”. It is also written that “the discussion confirmed the importance of strengthening and intensifying dialogue on energy questions, as well as those at a political and technical level. In particular, subjects regarding Algerian access to the European market and use of renewable energies in the framework of WTO negotiations”. Similarly, talks also centre upon the question of the “next stages of co-operation in agriculture, given the planned timetable for beginning negotiations on the liberalisation of trade in agricultural products and processed agricultural and fishing products. In this context, the importance of competitiveness and corporate compliance with technical and health standards has been emphasised”, explained the Commission, which is hoping for “real progress” to be made on all subjects discussed in view of the forthcoming meeting of the Algeria-EU Association Council, next June.
The local press is focusing on the fact that the dispute on energy has not gone away. “The EU is still seeking to get Algeria to sign a strategic agreement (memorandum of understanding), as sought during the most recent visit of Bouteflika to Spain. Spain is the current president of the EU and is seeking to defrost the situation to this effect”. Algeria appears to be losing interest in this agreement. The Algerian media appears to be echoing comments made by the country's leaders, and European diplomats have highlighted the difficulty encountered for resolving questions regarding the readmission of illegal immigrants transiting Algerian territory. The press quotes sources close to players involved in the dossier, and suggests that Algeria will still refuse to sign a readmission agreement unless the EU resolves the question of free movement of persons. (F.B./transl.fl)