Spain analyzes the consequences of Algeria's decision to see if it can denounce it before the EU

Algeria is not a member of the WTO, so it is not possible to submit the case to this arbitration

MADRID/BRUSSELS, June 9 (EUROPE PRESS) -

The Government is analyzing the implications of Algeria's decision to freeze foreign trade operations to and from Spain to see if it can report the Maghreb country to the EU for breaching the Agreement between the Twenty-seven and Algiers.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has indicated this Thursday that he is "exactly analyzing the implications of this measure, the practical scope, both at a national and European level", referring to the Agreement between the EU and Algeria.

Once this analysis is completed, the minister has advanced, the Government will be able to "give the appropriate response." A response, said the Foreign Minister, which will be "serene and constructive but also firm in defending the interests of Spain and Spanish companies".

Depending on the result, one of the options available to the Government would be to report Algeria to the EU for failing to comply with the association agreement that came into force in 2005, although the government sources consulted by Europa Press stress that "there is no to anticipate events".

The basis on which, a priori, Spain could base itself to denounce Algeria would be in Chapter 1 of Title IV relating to "Current payments and circulation of capital". Article 38 stipulates that "the parties undertake to authorize, in a freely convertible currency, all current payments relating to current transactions."

Article 40 sets some exceptions to this rule. Thus, it is pointed out that if one or several member states of the EU or Algeria "run the risk of facing serious difficulties in terms of balance of payments", then the EU or Algiers, as the case may be, can "adopt for a limited duration restrictive measures on current transactions, which cannot exceed the scope strictly necessary to remedy the balance of payments situation.

In these circumstances, the EU or Algeria, as the case may be, must "immediately inform the other party and submit a timetable for the removal of these measures as quickly as possible."

On the other hand, in case of differences between the parties regarding the application and interpretation of the agreement, the EU and Algeria can go to the Association Council provided for in the text, which can try to solve the difference "by way of decision" , which must be fulfilled by the parties, as indicated in article 100. The Association Council is made up of representatives of the European Council and the European Commission, on one side, and of Algeria, on the other.

In the event that a decision cannot be reached, then each of the parties may notify the appointment of an arbitrator to the other, which must in turn appoint its own arbitrator within a period of two months, while the Association Council appoint a third party. Among the three, they should make a decision by majority, which the parties would be obliged to comply with.

The European Union already resorted in 2020 to the framework offered by the Association Agreement to try to resolve a dispute with Algeria that dates back to 2015, the year since which this country has imposed restrictions on European imports worth 1,500 million euros.

Among the measures that the EU contests in the dispute resolution procedure provided for in this agreement is a veto on imports of cars and vehicles and also increases in tariffs, according to what community sources have indicated to Europa Press, which, however, specify that There have been no significant "advances" in the two years that the process has been activated.

Traditionally, the European Union - which represents the Twenty-seven on the international level in commercial matters - goes to the World Trade Organization (WTO) when there are frictions with third countries, as happened when it denounced China for the restrictions on Lithuania , but in this case it is not a possible scenario because Algeria is not a member of this multilateral arbitration body.