Algeria’s Commercial Boycott Grows Amid Sanchez’s First Electoral Losses

The first electoral repercussions fell on Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his party, since the outbreak of the stormy crisis between Algeria and Madrid, with the ruling Socialist Party losing in the regional elections that took place in Andalusia, in favour of the rival, the largest opposition party, the Popular Party, while Algeria continues pressurizing Spain by imposing more economically painful penalties.

Sanchez’s party suffered a resounding defeat, Sunday, in the last election before the legislative elections expected at the end of 2023, while the opposition Popular Party won 59 seats, exceeding the majority threshold by three seats. As for the ruling socialist, it did not exceed thirty seats only, although this region is considered its stronghold, according to the Spanish press.

This development occurs at a time when criticism is mounting against the Sanchez government, due to the crisis with Algeria, which has taken serious political and economic dimensions in the last few weeks, with the suspension of trade exchanges, which led to unexpected losses for Spanish companies which influence the political decision.

During the session of the Spanish Parliament scheduled for this Tuesday, the Popular Party will ask the government to provide explanations about the economic situation caused by the crisis with Algeria, in the last official session of the legislative body before going to the summer holidays. The leader of the Popular Party, Javier Maroto, will face the First Deputy Prime Minister, Nadia Calvino, with the repercussions that led to the current economic situation, while the spokeswoman for foreign affairs Senator Pilar Rojo will hold the government accountable for the consequences of the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

If everyone in Spain considers the origin of the stormy crisis between Algeria and Madrid is Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s bad decisions, the recent escalation was blamed on two ministers, namely Vice President Nadia Calvino, and Minister of Agriculture Luis Planas, who made matters worse, according to the Spanish newspaper “El Confidential”, because they accused Russia of being behind Algeria’s escalation of its position on Madrid, without providing evidence or indications of this false accusation.

In the same context, Algeria continues to pressurize the Sanchez government economically, which is a card that has a great impact on the Spanish interior affairs, and the latest decision made by Algeria in the context of its punishment of the Spanish Prime Minister and his political team is to call on activists in the tourism sector not to cooperate with their Spanish counterparts, as a commitment with the decision to suspend the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation, according to a document issued by the Ministry of Tourism and reported by the Spanish press.

With this decision, it becomes difficult to buy airline tickets or make hotel bookings through travel agencies, which are one of the conditions required for obtaining a Schengen visa to enter Spain for tourism.

Last year, more than 62,000 Algerian tourists travelled to Spain, compared to more than 100,000 tourists before the outbreak of the “Covid 19” pandemic.

In light of the ferment that is sweeping the political and economic circles in Spain, opinions and positions calling for speeding up the warmth of bilateral relations are being strengthened, in a way that guarantees the interests of industrialists and farmers whose export activity to Algeria stopped more than two months ago, due to political errors resulting from a miscalculation of the Algerian reaction from the irresponsible, unilateral and sudden shift in the Spanish government’s positions.

The General Secretary of the Association of Economists in the Murcia Region, Francisco Jose Fuentes Campuzano, called for the government’s initiative to restore trade relations with Algeria that have practically been suspended, and to prevent the situation from further deteriorating, citing its repercussions on the sales of about 180 Murcia companies, and losses of nearly 200 million euros, which could cause a possible employment crisis, asserting that the crisis is political and must be addressed through political means.