On Monday 7 December, the European Union and Algeria renewed their commitment to deepen their partnership to reach its full potential during an Association Council meeting by videoconference.
According to an EU Council communiqué, the two sides reviewed important issues in their relations, including governance and human rights, economic cooperation and trade, environment, energy and migration.
Among other things, the EU hoped to find “very quickly” an agreement “within the framework of Article 100 of the Association Agreement” to settle the dispute concerning Algeria’s ban on imports of a number of products and the imposition of additional customs duties on others (see EUROPE 12009/21).
The Europeans also said they want to quickly resume the activities of the EU-Algeria Strategic Partnership in the energy sector.
Similarly, issues on migration and mobility “should be dealt with in a mutually beneficial partnership”, according to the EU, which intends to move towards concrete cooperation with the aim, inter alia, of making better use of existing channels for mobility, ensuring, in compliance with international commitments, the return of persons residing illegally on the territory of one of the parties, strengthening governance and making progress in the fight against criminal networks.
Europeans and Algerians also discussed how to strengthen stability in the region.
On Tuesday 8 December, the European Commission published a report on EU-Algeria relations for the period 2018-2020. The report covers the partnership’s priorities: governance and fundamental rights; socio-economic development and trade; energy, environment and sustainable development; strategic and security dialogue; the human dimension, migration and mobility; and financial cooperation. See the report in French: https://bit.ly/3lVK1B5 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)