Successive Trials Of Sanchez Government Due To Current Crisis With Algeria

Despite the Spanish government’s attempts to keep the crisis with Algeria out of the media due to the growing pressure it placed on Pedro Sanchez’s government, the repercussions of this vexed crisis remain strongly present in the political and media debate, as the matter is related to a vital issue as long as it has reached the “people’s pockets”.
And if the Spanish party was comforted by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s assurances that Algeria will respect gas supply contracts with Spain, yet terror still dwells in the minds and hearts of officials in Madrid, due to the decision to review preferential gas prices, which Algeria singled out for Madrid as an exceptional partner earlier.
In this context, Madrid began preparing the Spanish people for the Algerian authorities’ decision to raise gas prices, and this came in the words of Francesco Renes, head of the “Naturgy” company, who said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper “Levanguardia”, Sunday, that “the world is doomed to see a rise in gas prices in the coming years,” in an attempt to delude the public opinion in his country that the hike in prices is due to the global energy crisis and its links to the Russian military operation in Ukraine, and not to the sanctions that Algeria decided to impose on Madrid, following the sudden reversal in its historical position on the Western Sahara issue, by depriving it of privilege of exceptional partner who provided her with “preferential prices” that Spain could not dream of.
The energy company “Naturgy” is the owner of the exclusive contract with Sonatrach to supply Algerian gas to Spain, and the Spanish party has admitted that Algeria has officially requested a price review in bilateral contracts starting next year, which is included in the clauses, knowing that these agreements extend to 2032. .
Before the outbreak of the crisis, Spain enjoyed preferential treatment, but today energy prices have skyrocketed, accompanied by Madrid losing the privileges of an exceptional partner, and this means at best that the prices that will be adopted in the current contracts will be at a level that is traded in global markets.
This adverse contingency would put the Spanish government in great trouble for its citizens, because they are the ones who will pay the price from their pockets, due to a “wrong” political decision taken by their country’s government, according to the estimates of a large section of politicians and media professionals in the Iberian Peninsula.
In an attempt to calm down the situation, the Madrid government is trying to reassure the Spanish people that the disputes with Algeria will not overshadow the gas supply, as stated by its foreign minister, Jose Manuel Alvares, despite the concern over price hikes, as stated by the agency “Europe Press”.
And the agency quoted Alvares as saying: “Algeria remains a strong, reliable and strategic partner” for his country in the field of gas despite the worsening crisis between the two countries.
The Spanish government, through its Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in answer to the question: “The supply of Algerian gas is carried out through private marketers, while the responsibility lies with the state in ensuring the responsibility of the supply, within the framework specified in the current contracts.”
This is the second question of its kind from members of the Spanish Senate directed to the Sanchez government regarding the prices of gas imported from Algeria, within about two weeks, and the answer was the same, which is that prices are set by private companies in charge of distribution and marketing, despite the fact that the question posed is more political than technical. .
The Spanish Foreign Minister tried desperately to convince the senators that prices are set by private companies that market the imported gas, while parliamentary questions aimed at touching the responsibility of the Sanchez government in provoking Algeria with its “wrong” decisions, and pushing it towards imposing sanctions on Spain, which was manifested through its decision to review gas prices in bilateral contracts.
Although about three months have passed since the Algerian-Spanish relations entered a dark tunnel due to the recklessness of officials in Madrid, this crisis remains an unbearable pressure on the Sanchez government, who will appear on the eighth of this month before Parliament again to justify his politically unpalatable decisions regarding the burning Western Sahara case.