Algeria Transfers Its Ambassador In Madrid To Paris

The movement in the diplomatic corps conducted by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune answered some of the questions that were raised, including the future of Algerian-Spanish relations, especially since the Algerian diplomatic representation is still absent from Madrid.

Among what was revealed by this movement, the transfer of the ambassador to Madrid, Said Moussa, to Paris, to succeed the former ambassador, Mohamed Antar Daoud, in a decision described by observers, as expressing the continued Algerian anger against the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, as the trigger of the crisis between the two countries, as a result of causing his country to be removed from the neutrality that characterized its position on the Western Sahara issue for 47 years.

President Tebboune had summoned Algeria’s ambassador to Madrid for consultations on March 19, one day after the Moroccan Makhzen regime published a letter from the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, acknowledging his country’s support for the so-called “autonomy” project proposed by Rabat in 2007, which was strongly rejected by the Sahrawi government and the Polisario Front, as the sole legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people.

The appointment of Said Moussa as ambassador in Paris to succeed Mohamed Antar Daoud, whose previous position lasted only about four months (appointed in November 2021 and withdrawn in March 2022), indicates that the Algerian embassy in Madrid will remain vacant until further notice, which means that the age of the diplomatic crisis between Algeria and Spain is likely to continue for a longer period.

The diplomatic crisis erupted between Algeria and Madrid last March, and continued to worsen due to the Algerian party’s feeling of betrayal by the Spanish side, especially since the two countries had a “treaty of friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation” signed in 2002, which increased the shock impact on bilateral relations.

President Tebboune’s decision to transfer Algeria’s former ambassador to Madrid to Paris was expected in view of the escalation policy pursued by Algeria in the face of the escape-forward diplomacy practiced by Spanish PM Sanchez.

Over the course of the diplomatic crisis, the relations between the two countries witnessed a great political and media debate, in which shouts were loud from the Spanish side, which announced the cessation of its commercial relations with Algeria, with the exception of the energy sector, following a statement by the Algerian Banks Association, which talked about stopping bank settlement between the two countries.

Despite Algeria’s assertion that it had not taken a decision to stop commercial transactions with Madrid, the latter did not stop running after its partners in the European Union, hoping to obtain support from them in its dispute with Algeria, and succeeded in luring major Europeans, along the lines of Italy, Germany and France, by enticing them to seize the privileges that Spain lost, a situation that upset Madrid, which felt that it paid the price alone without the support of Brussels, except for a dry statement that did not change anything in reality.