Algeria’s unilateral decision to close the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline is a “strategic mistake” which will have “disastrous consequences” for Algiers and all the countries in the region, underlines, Tuesday, Spanish journalist Pedro Canales.
This “baseless” decision undermines the interests of the region and the ambition of building the Maghreb Union, Canales points out in an article published by Spanish magazine “Atalayar”, deploring “the passivity of Spain and Europe” with regard to Algiers.
Despite the reassuring messages sent by the Algerian authorities, “the gas supply agreements signed with Spain, Portugal and the European Union will not be honored”, says the Spanish journalist, adding that the “alternative plan” proposed by Algiers to compensate for the 6 billion cubic meters of the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline is neither reliable nor sufficient.
“The Algerian regime made two strategic mistakes in few months: the first was to unilaterally sever diplomatic relations with Morocco; the second was to close the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, which carried 6 billion cubic meters of gas from Hassi R’Mel to Spain via Morocco,” writes Mr. Canales, a former correspondent for several Spanish media outlets in the Maghreb.
“These two decisions were taken by the Algerian High Security Council, a military body which went from the status of consultative body into that of executive body, and to which are associated, without the right of veto, the President of the Republic, the interior and foreign ministers, and security chiefs,” notes the author of the article.
