High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini will be in Algiers on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 April. Her visit is due to seal what is perceived on both sides as "new impetus" to the cooperation that has for a long time been slow in how it operates due to Algeria's previous reluctance to be anchored to the Euro-Mediterranean space.
This tendency today seems to be reversed, and Algiers now wants to appear as the "privileged partner" and the "strategic ally" in energy and security, in return for its support of economic, political and administrative reforms. The country is finding it difficult to promote the role of companies, to rebalance its trade with the EU (which is dominated by hydro-carbons with an unfavourable balance) and to attract investors.
According to a European source, Mogherini, who will make her second visit to Algiers on Saturday (the first being in September 2015), intends to confirm this new impetus formally with the conclusion of the assessment and adoption of the partnership priorities agreed on 13 March, at the end of the tenth session of the Association Council. It is a very enriched level of commitment that is expected, the same European source sated.
Mogherini's visit "is evidence of Algeria's and the EU's resolve to step up high level political dialogue" in the context of "reinvigorating cooperation and partnership relations", the Algerian side states. In a press release published by Algeria's national press agency, Algeria expects Mogherini's visit "to continue discussions and take them deeper" on "regional issues of common interest, especially the situations in Libya, Mali, the Sahel and the Western Sahara, on which there is a broad convergence of views".
According to the same Algerian source, the discussions will also focus on "energy issues, the environment, sustainable development, the strategic and security dialogue, the human dimension (including the cultural and inter-religious dialogue), and migration and mobility. Some of these priorities will be the subject of technical and financial cooperation, which will be implemented as part of the 2018-2020 financial programming".
During her visit, Mogherini is also due to speak on Erasmus at a conference at the University of Algiers. Elsewhere, an EU electoral mission will be deployed for the parliamentary elections on 4 May in order to conduct an analysis of the electoral process. (Original version in French by Fathi B’Chir)