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Algeria dismisses its Finance Minister in the midst of the crisis with Spain

2022-06-14T21:09:23.606Z


The Algerian president has dismissed, without specifying the reasons, Abderramán Rauya, who had only been in office for four months


The president of Algeria, Abdelmayid Tebún, in an official image. Illustrated Service (Automatic) (Europa Press)

The president of Algeria, Abdelmayid Tebún, dismissed this Tuesday, without specifying the reasons, the Minister of Finance, Abderramán Rauya, who had been appointed in February.

The dismissal occurs in the midst of a diplomatic crisis with Spain, after Algiers suspended on Wednesday, June 8, the friendship treaty signed between the two countries 20 years ago.

Hours after adopting that measure, the Algerian Association of Banks and Financial Establishments (Abef), which depends on the department of the dismissed Rauya, issued a circular announcing the freezing from the following day of bank direct debits in operations originating and destined to Spain.

Algerian business sources who speak on condition of anonymity indicated that the dismissal is linked to the crisis with Spain.

"It may be a necessary measure before unblocking operations and going back," says one of them.

An Algerian analyst who also requests that his identity be preserved, indicates: “The minister has so far remained very discreet.

He hadn't done or said anything serious.

So it is possible that his dismissal is linked to the crisis with Spain”.

Other European sources also prominent in Algiers express their doubts: “In Algeria you never know the reasons for a dismissal.

Obviously, if it is linked to the management of the crisis with Spain, they will not recognize it.

They don't want to convey a message of weakness."

The aforementioned European sources highlighted the fact that President Tebún has not appointed any minister to replace Abderramán Rauya.

“The general secretary of the ministry remains as interim minister.

And so Tebún monopolizes more power at the moment, he is not going to have anyone who opposes any of his measures ”.

Rauya's dismissal comes days after the Algerian authorities denied before the European Union on two occasions, on Thursday and Saturday, that the funds used to finance operations with Spain had been frozen.

However, sources familiar with the situation assure that the circular issued by the Algerian bank employers is still in force and is complied with in all entities.

“The banks”, indicated the same source familiar with the situation, “are very strictly complying with the circular.

They are only freezing operations starting Thursday, June 9, as ordered by the letter.

The above operations are being paid.

And then there has been the curious case that an operation with Spanish products has been allowed.

Although the company that sold these products is not Spanish”.

European sources indicated that Rouya attended this Tuesday morning in Algiers a twinning ceremony between the European Union and the Ministry of Finance.

“This is an agreement by which Europe offers its money so that the country modernizes its institutions.

I don't know to what extent the fact that the minister attended an event where the efforts of the European Union were thanked, when three days ago they were criticizing the EU for its support for Spain, would have had some repercussion.

Abderramán Rauya – whose name in French is transcribed as Abderrahmane Raouya – was already finance minister under former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, between 2017 and 2018. And also for five months, in 2020.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, traveled urgently to Brussels last week to seek the support of the institutions in the face of what he considers a "discriminatory" measure with respect to Spain.

Albares explicitly obtained support when the Vice President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, and the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, issued a joint note in which they claimed to be "evaluating" the implications of Algeria's actions.

“At first glance, [the measures] appear to be a violation of the association agreement [between the European Union and Algeria, signed in 2005], particularly in the area of ​​trade and investment.

Albares, "pyromaniac"

The official Algérie Presse Service (APS) agency published an unsigned article on Tuesday, like all of its own, where it charged directly to Albares, whom it branded as an "arsonist."

In the same way that Moroccan diplomacy once charged Albares's predecessor, Arancha González-Laya, because of the reception of the Polisario Front leader, Brahim Gali, in a hospital in Logroño, now it is Algeria who focuses its criticism in Albares.

But neither Morocco was satisfied with the dismissal of González-Laya nor did Algeria set itself the sole objective of dismissing Albares.

The underlying issue for Algeria and Morocco is the policy of the Spanish Government regarding Western Sahara.

And there, Spain decided to end 47 years of neutrality on March 14,

when President Pedro Sánchez sent a letter to King Mohamed VI where he assured that the Moroccan proposal for autonomy for Western Sahara is the "most serious, realistic and credible" basis.

Thus, the self-determination referendum demanded by the Polisario Front was thus officially relegated to the background for the Spanish Government.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-06-14

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