Decoding Algeria's ENP Policy: Differentiation by Other Means?

Abstract

Algeria remains the only ‘normal’ southern Mediterranean country not to have signed up for the ENP through an Action Plan. The current abundance of its foreign currency reserves is often referred to as the factor defining Algeria's ENP policy. This article assesses the viability of this assumption by examining Algeria's parallel attachment to the Barcelona Process. It argues that the reductionism characterizing this assumption and the arguments based upon it overlooks the strategic thinking informing Algeria's ENP policy which derives from the country's reinvigorated foreign policy. The latter, it is argued, bears signs of a ‘Russian syndrome’ as far as its tenets of ‘indigenous democracy’ and energy assertiveness are concerned. Effectively reducing Algeria to a mere reactive actor in its relations with the EU not only precludes proper understanding of the country's EU policy-making dynamics, but also risks leading to neglect of policy initiatives on its part towards the EU. In this vein, it is argued that the proposed ‘strategic energy partnership’ should be seen as a reflection of Algeria's preference as regards its relationship with the EU.

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the financial assistance of the British International Studies Association (BISA), through its PG Research and Founder's Fund Awards, which supported part of the research informing this paper. He is also indebted to Richard Gillespie for his valuable comments on earlier drafts.

Notes

¹ Libya and Syria do not yet have a contractual relationship with the EU. While the ratification of the already negotiated Syria AA has been suspended by the Council of the EU, it is not clear, following the recent resolution of the nurses' crisis, how EU–Libyan will relations be formalized. For the ENP state of play of all neighbouring countries (see Emerson et al., 2007).

² Several labels have been used to designate the same policy, all starting with the prefix ‘re’: redirected, renewed, revamped, revised, renovated, refurbished (Pierros et al., 1999: 165 fn. 3). ‘Redirected’ appears more appropriate as it captures the vocation of this policy as stated above.

³ Arab Maghreb Union (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia), established in 1989.

⁴ For more details on these initiatives, such as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Mediterranean (CSCM) and the 5 + 5 forum, see Calleya (2005).

⁵ Interviews with Algerian diplomats in London, 20 December 2005, and in Brussels, February–March 2007.

⁶ European capitals and institutions, except Paris until about 1996, adopted largely a ‘hands off’ approach towards the Algerian crisis, with some expressing ‘not knowing exactly what's going on’ due to the complexity of and opacity surrounding the crisis at the time and others disapproving of the Algerian authorities' policies towards the insurgency, deeming them excessive, ambiguous and inconsistent (for more details see Morisse-Schilbach, 1999; Roberts, 2002; Bonora-Waisman, 2003).

⁷ Interviews with Algerian diplomats in Brussels, 31 January 2007.

⁸ The normative and strategic objectives of the ENP are laid out in more detail in European Commission documents (2003a; 2004; 2006a).

⁹ The elections were planned for May 2002 and April 2004, respectively. Following his re-election for a second term, President Bouteflika charged his cabinet with the presentation of a liberalizing ‘hydrocarbon law’ to parliament for ratification. After bitter opposition from trade unions and left-wing parties, the bill was finally approved in 2005, only to be reversed by presidential decree about a year later.

¹⁰ ‘Plan d'action de la mise en œuvre de l'accord d'association’. The document is referred to in the European Commission's report (2007a).

¹¹ ‘Aide-mémoire de l'Algérie sur le bilan de dix années de partenariat euro-méditerranéen’ (2005), Algiers.

¹² Algeria reaffirmed its position during the Commission's first ‘multilateral’ conference on the ENP of 3 September 2007, see ‘L'Algérie en observateur à la conférence de la Commission européenne La politique de voisinage et le fait accompli’, Le Quotidien d'Oran, 2 September 2007, Algiers, http://www.lequotidien-oran.com. Despite some reports in the Algerian media about a volte-face of the government on the ENP (Liberté, L'éxpression and El-Khaber, 20 April 2008), the author confirmed with Algerian officials in charge of the dossier in Brussels and in Algiers that these reports were mere misinformed accounts following a visit by their authors to Brussels at the invitation of the European Commission and the European Journalist Centre.

¹³ Interviews with Moroccan and Egyptian diplomats in Brussels, February 2007.

¹⁴ Keohane, R.O. and Hoffmann, S. (1993) Conclusions: structure, strategy and international roles, in: R.O. Keohane, J.S. Nye & S. Hoffmann (Eds) After the Cold War: International Institutions and State Strategies in Europe, 1989–1991 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), p. 393. Quoted in Gomez, 2003: 12 (see References).

¹⁵ Interviews with Algerian diplomats and Foreign Ministry officials in Brussels and Algiers, January 2007 and October 2006.

¹⁶ One EU official felt that a ‘marketing error’ during a Maghreb tour by former External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten prior to the introduction of the ENP, which took him to Tunisia and Morocco but not Algeria, may have prompted this reaction from the Algerians. Brussels, 3 May 2007.

¹⁷ The EC's communication issued shortly after the ‘Wider Europe – Neighbourhood’ document on ‘reinvigorating EU action on Human Rights and democratization with Mediterranean partners’ is seen as testimony to this intention. Interview with an Algerian diplomat, Brussels, 12 March 2007.

¹⁸ A number of interviews with European officials at numerous levels in Brussels revealed a common perception in the EU that Algeria's current financial ease, owing to high oil prices since 2003, is allowing the country to ‘snub’ the incentives of the ENP thereby avoiding its conditionality.

¹⁹ Following the Iraq invasion in March 2003, oil prices have surged to record highs. Algeria produces around 1.4 million barrels/day and exports around 65 billion cubic metres of natural gas yearly. Its foreign currency reserves are estimated to have surpassed $110 billion.

²⁰ Interview with a Commission official, Brussels, 3 May 2007. On her second visit to Algeria on 3–4 March 2008, Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner declared that both the EU and Algeria were rigorously implementing their AA engagements. See ‘Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissaire européen, chargée des relations extérieures et de la politique européenne de voisinage au quotidien d'Oran’, Le Quotidien d'Oran, 4 March 2008, Algiers, http://www.lequotidien-oran.com.

²¹ The first Association Council due to take place in March 2006 was postponed to May 2006 at Algeria's behest. ‘A junior EU delegation’ assigned to the meeting seemed not satisfactory for the Algerians who were sending their foreign minister.

²² There was a notable attempt at a rapprochement with Morocco's new monarch Mohammed VI in the summer 1999 and diplomatic relations with Iran were restored in 2000 after seven years of suspension.

²³ The 1990s are referred to as ‘La décennie noire’ in Algerian common parlance.

²⁴ ‘Indigenous’ because initiated without external agency. As far as the EU is concerned, it preceded the 1991 Development Council said to have systematized ‘democracy promotion’ in EU external action (for more details see Youngs, 2001).

²⁵ A concept devoid of any meaningful institutional or practical substance, drawing domestic legitimacy from a common nationalist sentiment that Algeria was not assisted in time of need when its democratic experiment went off track.

²⁶ Interviews with Algerian officials in Algiers and Brussels, February/October 2006 and January–March 2007.

²⁷ Interview with an Algerian diplomat, Brussels, 21 March 2007.

²⁸ Interview with a Commission diplomat, Algiers, 15 May 2007.

²⁹ Many analysts are expecting fierce competition between the powerful factions of the Algerian establishment over Bouteflika's plans for constitutional amendments to accommodate inter alia his (undeclared) intention to run for a third term.

³⁰ So much so that it appears that the EU institutions do not even comment on democracy-related developments in Algeria such as the legislative elections of 17 May 2007. This is not the case in relation to other issues such as terrorism or to similar developments in other SMCs such as Morocco.

³¹ Algeria's state-owned oil and gas company.

³² In a February 2007 meeting of the Council of the EU, Portugal ‘pushed’ for the inclusion of Algeria in the ENP's initiative of ‘participation in EU programmes and agencies’, despite its ENP-status and opposition from other (northern) member states. Algerian gas accounts for approximately 85 per cent of Portugal's consumption and Sonatrach is a shareholder of Portugal's Energias Grupo.

³³ For details, see El País, 13 March 2007: http://www.elpais.com.

³⁴ 98 per cent of Algeria's foreign currency earnings come from hydrocarbon exports.

³⁵ Algeria's ambassador to the EU stated in the Commission's ENP conference on 3 September 2007 that there is nothing that the ENP offers which is not provided for in Algeria's AA.

³⁶ A confidential document obtained by the author. The draft proposal was prepared in April 2006 and presented to the Algerian side during the first Association Council held in May 2006.

³⁷ At the time incarnated by Ahmed Ouyahia.

³⁸ This was the view expressed by Algeria's energy minister, Chakib Khelil. See Liberté daily newspaper, 7 January 2006, http://www.liberte-algerie.com.

³⁹ A 2–3 week period of systematic consultation between Schengen member states was abolished, leading to a significant reduction in visa-delivery waiting times for Algerian nationals.

⁴⁰ Interview with a Commission official, Brussels, 3 May 2007.

⁴¹ See Piebalgs' speech on ‘EU-Algeria Energy Challenges’ at the 5th International Conference on Investment Opportunities in Algeria's Energy Sector, Oran. Algeria. EC Press release, SPEECH/06/752, 27/11/06; and Ferrero-Waldner's speech on ‘International cooperation on energy: building a sustainable future for all’ at an EU–Africa–ME energy conference, Sham Al-Sheikh, Egypt. Press release, SPEECH/07/680, 05/11/07.