Algeria, long politically pressured and lacking significant foreign investment in its energy sector, now sees an improved relationship with Europe as a key to solving many of its national issues.
However, its currently strained relationship with France, and its previously successful effort to shore up relations with Italy, have pushed Algeria to pursue a similar tactic with the European Union's (EU) other two heavyweights, Germany and Spain.
In the span of two weeks, Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune conducted a high-level working visit to Germany, where he met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Friedrich Merz, before later hosting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Algiers.
Algeria has long faced a crisis on three fronts, namely diplomatic pressure and growing isolation over the Western Sahara dossier, political fragility following the Hirak protest movement, and economic decline, and sees the solution to many of these issues in Rome, Madrid and Berlin.
Breaking the isolation
A major issue for Algiers is that it has lacked major international backers on the world stage, especially in comparison with its regional rival Morocco. With global resistance to Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara faltering, and France continuing its steadfast support for Rabat, Tebboune likely sees stronger relations with Spain and Germany, following Italy, as his best opportunity to send a message to Paris that Algeria remains a regional player.
Algiers is capitalising on energy diplomacy as its primary tool, with Tebboune’s visit to Germany coming within days of Sonatrach’s first LNG shipment to Germany. Further cooperation in this sector would open the door to greater gas supplies for Europe and a partnership on renewable energy development.
