Algeria cut the amount of gas it delivers to Spain by nearly a quarter last week. This is revealed by the Spanish press while Algiers, a major gas supplier for Europe, remains silent. She had warned Madrid, meaning that she would break the contract to supply gas to Spain if the latter were to deliver it ” to a third destination, not included in the agreement “. Recently, Madrid had informed the Algerian authorities that it was going to deliver gas to Morocco via the Maghreb-Europe GME gas pipeline, gas ” which does not come from Algeria said the Spanish authorities. Affirmation which does not seem to convince Algiers.
Algiers has not taken off since Madrid decided in mid-March to support the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara.
Great support of the Polisario and of the independence of Western Sahara, it leads, step by step, an undeclared economic war against Spain. In the last episode, it reduced the amount of gas sent to Madrid by around 25%.
► To read Western Sahara: why is Spain ending its neutrality?
The daily report monitoring the level of gas arrival via the Medgaz pipeline indicates that the current level of delivery is the lowest since the beginning of the year.
On March 19, in reaction to the new Spanish position in Western Sahara, Algiers recalled its ambassador to Madrid, it also stopped cooperating on the return of migrants intercepted at sea while trying to reach Spain from Algerian coasts.
Any other economic sanction seems good to put pressure on Spain, Algiers put bureaucratic obstacles to imports of Spanish cattle, which caused the breeders losses of millions of euros, before practically closing its market to Spanish products. .