Cost Of European Goods From The Partnership With Algeria Is $ 308B

The agreement between Algeria and the European Union is implemented by September 1, 2020, in a hundred per cent, concerning customs facilities, at a time when the Algerian government insists on the need to amend the partnership that caused the Algerian treasury to incur losses in dinars and dollars, and turned into a market that spent 308 billion dollars of European goods during 16 years, while this did not prevent Algerian products from winning a transit visa to the European market, except for oil and gas.

The head of the National Association of Algerian Exporters, Ali Bey Nasri, told Echorouk that the partnership agreement between Algeria and Europe is achieving negative results for the Algerian treasury since 2015 due to the collapse of oil and gas prices, which remain the most important products which enter the European market, at a time that was positive before that by counting hydrocarbons, as the negative results that were disclosed in the past excluded gas and oil exports.

According to Nasri, Algeria called for a review of the file, by sitting at the negotiating table with representatives of the European Union in Brussels, and demanding additional customs rights, which Europe previously protested against and did not accept when Algeria spoke about it in 2016, and the Europeans invoked Article 17 of the terms of the agreement which stipulates not to increase customs rights, while the Algerian party relies on Article 40, which allows protesting about additional rights if those negative results are recorded in the balance of payments, a situation that Algeria has lived through for 5 years.

“We are currently in the evaluation stage, and after that, we will sit at the negotiations’ table with the European Union, to review points that do not serve the national economy, due to the delicate situation that Algeria is experiencing today, as a result of the low price of oil and the decline in incomes that are expected to range by the end of the year, according to estimates, between 23 and 25 billion dollars, i.e -11 billion dollars compared to previous years”, President of the National Association of Algerian Exporters said.

“Europe, for its part, will complain about the additional rights’ demands that Algeria will disclose and which will resort to implementing Article 40 of the text of the agreement, as this article allows reviewing the additional rights if a loss in the balance of payments is recorded. Algeria’s trade does not represent more than 0.8% of European exports, out of a total of 2132 billion dollars that Europe exports to the world”.

Algeria’s imports of European goods during the 16 years of the implementation of the agreement, according to Ali Bey Nasri, are estimated at 308 billion dollars, while the customs duties that Algeria waived in favour of the Europeans were equivalent to 15 billion dollars annually.

The National Association of Algerian Exporters praised the decisions of the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, regarding the amendment of international partnership agreements, including the agreement with the European Union, calling for the need to review the Algerian-European agreement, which provisions remained merely ink on paper, and the European Union was committed only to the commercial part while ignoring the industrial aspect, which urges Europeans to invest in Algeria, transfer technology and boost freedom of movement, but over the past years, it was satisfied with marketing its goods to Algeria in an unbalanced manner, without granting facilities for the entry of Algerian goods into the European market.