Latest news with #DiegoMellado
El Chorouk
26-02-2025
- Politics
- El Chorouk
French Parliament Incites the European Union Against Algeria
In a coincidence that is neither strange nor innocent, a group of French deputies in the National Assembly (the lower house of parliament) affiliated with the far-right movement submitted a proposal to pass a European resolution calling for the suspension of negotiations between Algeria and the European Union and the cancellation of their partnership agreement. Coinciding with the same day the European bloc agreed to review this trade treaty, the French far-right made a blatant attempt to transfer the crisis and dispute with Algeria from France to the European Union. This new bias from the French far-right came through a proposed resolution submitted by 22 deputies from the far-right National Rally, known for its hostile stances towards Algeria, dated February 17, 2025, checked out by Echorouk, and which included a clear French plea to the European Union in the battle against Algeria. It should be noted that the initiative to try to pass a European resolution coincided strangely with the same day that the head of the European mission in Algeria, Diego Mellado, announced Brussels' acceptance of reconsidering the partnership agreement within the framework of the new Charter for the Mediterranean. It was clear that this initiative, led by far-right MPs, expresses the failure of political elites in Paris to understand that the era of colonial domination is gone forever, and came as a desperate attempt to transfer the battle of the crisis with Algeria to the level of the European Union, after this movement had previously suffered a disastrous failure in its attempt to cancel the 1968 immigration agreement. One of the ironies included in the French extremist MPs' document is the attempt to market the idea that Algeria has not adhered to the terms of the partnership agreement, by accusing it of not respecting the rules of trade exchange and imposing protectionist measures on some strategic sectors, most notably the food sector through the requirements of the 'Halal' certificate. What confirms that the initiative aims ostensibly to transfer the battle to a European level, with an underlying goal of defending French interests, is the allegations contained in this draft that Algeria 'is pursuing an unfair competitive policy targeting French and European companies in particular as a means of diplomatic revenge, especially by stopping the import of French wheat or freezing joint industrial projects.' What is also clear from this move is that there is a trend in France today that is trying to portray the country as a victim of an unequal agreement, even though it was the first to benefit from it, as it exploited the Algerian market for years without making any real concessions. However, after finding itself facing an Algerian leadership that puts the country's interests above all else, it began to move through the European Union in a desperate attempt to stop negotiations to review the agreement that was unfair to Algeria and not the other way around. The proposal is based on flimsy arguments, such as accusing Algeria of not fulfilling its commitments in the areas of trade, immigration and security, the same justifications that the French right had previously used in its battle against the 1968 agreement, all of which had failed. The initiative called on the French government to formally request the European Commission to suspend current trade and political negotiations with Algeria, until what they described as 'concrete and measurable guarantees of the fulfilment of the undertaken commitments.' The document also incited the French government and the European Commission to conduct a comprehensive review or cancel the 2005 partnership agreement, to re-establish a trade and economic balance favourable to French and European interests.
El Chorouk
17-02-2025
- Business
- El Chorouk
European Union Agrees to Review the Partnership With Algeria
The European Union finally accepted Algerian demands and complied with its wishes. The European Union Ambassador to Algeria, Diego Mellado, announced that Brussels is ready to review the partnership agreement signed between the two parties in 2002 in its initials before it enters into force three years later. The European side did not accept to review this agreement, except after major changes occurred in its relations with its first partner, the United States of America during the era of Donald Trump, the superpower, and before him Russia, which tightened the noose on it from the eastern side, which made it search for solutions to its problems with other parties, including Algeria. In a speech by the European Ambassador to Algeria, delivered on Monday at the Marriott Hotel in the capital Algiers, at a forum organized by the European Commission in Algeria in cooperation with the Algerian Agency for Investment Promotion and the Polish Embassy in Algeria, Diego Mellado explained that after twenty years of implementing the partnership agreement, and in the face of new geostrategic realities, it is time to 'reconsider our partnership and review our relations as a whole, especially within the framework of the new Mediterranean Charter.' The European Union has entered an unprecedented crisis since World War II, as it has lost its traditional ally, the United States of America, whose President Donald Trump decided to impose customs duties on European goods. It is also witnessing a military crisis on its eastern border with Russia, which has nibbled away at large parts of Ukraine. At the same time, the Europeans are being excluded from any participation in managing the Ukrainian crisis, amid talk of a summit between Trump and Putin that will end the crisis at the expense of the Europeans. Perhaps this is what the Europeans referred to as 'geostrategic facts'. The European official spoke about the 'fundamental and strategic' nature of relations between Algeria and the European Union, stressing that the year 2025 will be a good opportunity to deepen and strengthen them, based on a 'win-win' partnership, a phrase that Europeans have been repeating for nearly two decades, but it was entirely different, given the huge losses incurred by the Algerian side from this partnership, which was a 'win-lose', as the best description of it. In familiar language, Diego Mellado said that 'it is possible to attract more European investments in Algeria, develop and facilitate our trade and integrate our economies', and he acknowledged the legitimacy of Algeria's approach to diversifying its economy, which in this context is in line with the objectives of the European Union aimed at strengthening its industrial base. Previously in January, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune called for reviewing the partnership agreement with the European Union and justified this urgent demand by what is 'imposed by realistic economic data', marked by the transformations witnessed by Algeria, which no longer exports only hydrocarbons, after it succeeded in diversifying and expanding its exports outside hydrocarbons, especially in the field of agricultural production, minerals, cement, food products, and other goods. Before that, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the National Community Abroad had confirmed that the goal is to restore the balance of interests between the two parties, especially for Algeria, which seeks to protect its local production, after reviving several sectors such as industry and agriculture, noting that the Algerian side had been losing in this agreement for two decades, which gives it the right to call for its review. The Algerian authorities no longer trusted the Europeans' promises to increase investments in Algeria, given the previous promises that turned out to be false. Based on the figures previously revealed by Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf, European investments in Algeria did not exceed 13 billion dollars only in two decades, 12 billion dollars of which were transferred to Europe in the form of profits, while the volume of trade exchange was around a thousand billion dollars, a fact that belies the Europeans' claims.
