The Crisis With Algeria May Topple “Albares” This Week

The ongoing diplomatic crisis between Algeria and Spain has put the political future of Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, in jeopardy, as the majority of Spanish politicians believe that the deterioration of relations between Algeria and Madrid is due to the mismanagement of this file by their country’s Foreign Minister.
The continuation of José Manuel Albares as head of the Spanish Foreign Ministry is now at the mercy of a vote in the Spanish Senate, which is controlled by the conservative “People’s Party”, during this week, according to the Spanish local agency “Europa Press”.
Alberto Núñez Vallejo’s party called on Albares to resign or face a vote in the upper house of the Spanish parliament to overthrow him. The ruling Socialist Party, led by current Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, is second in terms of parliamentary representation and was only able to remain in power after forming an alliance with smaller parties after coming in second in the last legislative elections.
The Popular Party, which won the last legislative elections, accuses Albares of spoiling relations with both Algeria and Argentina, but he put Algeria first, which shows the importance Madrid attaches to relations with its North African partner. In second place came Spanish-speaking Argentina, the second largest country in Latin America.
Albares was severely criticized by the Algerian authorities in 2022, due to his mismanagement of the bilateral relations file (supporting the Moroccan regime’s autonomy plan), and the Algerian side went so far as to describe him in a statement by the Algerian Foreign Ministry as an “amateur diplomat” and a “seditious person”, following his attempt to raise the issue of Algerian economic sanctions on Spain to the European Union and his attempt to implicate it in this crisis.
As for the diplomatic crisis with Argentina, it was due to statements made by the Argentine President, Javier Milei, from Madrid at an activity of the Spanish Popular Party, in which he described Begoña Gomez, the wife of the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, as “corrupt”. The Popular Party blames Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares for his haste in withdrawing Madrid’s ambassador from the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.
According to the document submitted by the Popular Party to justify Albares’s dismissal scheduled for this week, “for causing diplomatic conflicts with Algeria and Argentina, countries considered traditional friends of Spain, which also led to a reduction in Spain’s influence in the European Union and Latin America.”
The document indicates that the crisis caused by Albares with Algeria, due to his support for the autonomy plan presented by the Moroccan regime regarding the conflict in Western Sahara, has not been resolved yet.
It is known that Algeria had decided to withdraw its ambassador from Madrid in April 2022, and suspended the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighborliness, signed between the two countries in 2002.
Spanish companies that exported their products to Algeria are still suffering from Algerian sanctions, and according to Spanish reports, these sanctions have caused many of them to go bankrupt, while a bloc of affected companies has emerged, demanding that the government provide compensation for the damage incurred.
Among the results of the diplomatic crisis with Algeria was Spain losing its leading position in Europe in the field of gas production and conversion, in favor of its rival, Italy, which became a center for exporting Algerian gas to the heart of Europe, which is what Spain, which has the strongest gas infrastructure in Europe, was counting on, and the reason was an Algerian decision, as is known.