The Economist magazine published a report on the tension between Morocco and Algeria, in which it said, “The aging ruling elite in Algeria hopes that the crisis with neighbors can divert the people from internal problems.”
The British magazine writes that these may have been difficult times for the tenth natural gas producer in the world, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine made European countries search for new supply places. Algeria sends 80% of its supplies to Europe, and most of it is transported via pipelines to Spain and Italy. As the third supplier of gas to Europe, it had to increase its production capabilities and transfer more of it, but it is threatening to reduce its quantities.. Last year, Algeria decided to close the pipeline to Spain via Morocco.
The decision was actually an expression of Algeria’s distress from Morocco, which receives 7% of its gas as fees and gets all its natural gas from Algeria. Spain still gets Algerian gas from a small pipeline from the sea that bypasses Morocco, but Algeria threatened Last month, that it will close this line also, after Rabat asked Spain to transfer some gas through the static line that passes through its territory. Algeria threatened that it would stop all gas supplies if Spain did this. The Economist believes that this may have been just a shout; Because Algeria does not want to lose the Spanish money. The magazine says that in any case, the fiery discourse from Algeria stems from internal politics, but the threats exacerbate the long conflict with Morocco.
According to the magazine, Algerians who are familiar with the secrets of matters say that the confrontation between the two neighbors may have veered towards war. The tension between the two countries dates back to 1963 when the two countries fought in a short “sand war” in a dispute over an area of border land a year after Algeria’s independence. With a defense budget of $9.1 billion, Algeria is the sixth largest importer of arms in the world where Morocco spends $5.4 billion on weapons.
But the Algerians, according to the magazine, are not more interested in war than their leaders. Young people want their government to focus on jobs and the economy rather than the threat of war, and Europeans fear the unfolding of events on the side of the Mediterranean. Last year, Spain obtained 40% of its natural gas from Algeria. A crisis in relations could have difficult consequences at a time when energy prices are rising as the war in Ukraine has forced Spain to give up Russian gas and it cannot lose another supplier.
