Algeria as Europe’s Gateway: Energy Dependence or Exploitation?

The 2020 Russia-Ukraine war has brought gas exportation from Russia to the European Union (EU) to a screeching halt. Since 1991, natural gas exported from Russia to European states has been passed through pipelines in Ukraine. However, once the war erupted, President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed his country “would not allow Russia to earn additional billions on our blood”, forbidding Russia from using their pipelines. This implies a crisis for Europe as Russian gas accounted for 40 per cent of the EU’s imports in 2021. It has since dropped 8 per cent in 2023. As a result, Europe has been forced to look elsewhere and it appears their focus has landed on Algeria. While this may seem ideal for both parties, this newfound attention holds implications globally and nationally for Algeria because of the EU’s tendency of exploitative politics. 

The Russia-Ukraine war has had an abundance of groundbreaking impacts on Europe’s regional stability with emergency security taking the forefront. Following the war and the sanctions implemented by the EU against Russia, Russia’s contribution to European exports for natural gas and petroleum decreased significantly. Indeed, at the start of 2022 Russia accounted for 38.8 per cent of the EU’s natural gas supply, branding them as their largest supplier. Beginning in 2023, Russia’s share dropped significantly to 3.2 per cent. However, Europe underestimated the role of these trade relations and their significance for its energy security, forcing them to look elsewhere for natural gas, and to do so quickly. Before the war, Algeria was the third largest supplier of natural gas to Europe. However, this crisis and its urgency exposed Algeria as a savior for Europe’s energy security, notably because of their proximity to Europe and abundant gas reserves. Following this attention shift, Algeria witnessed a series of high profile visits from European delegations including the European Council, the French president, and the Italian president. However, this newfound reliance appears rushed and idealistic and seems to ignore technical and geopolitical challenges. 

When reflecting on Europe’s geopolitical history with many African countries, the concerning nature of this newfound relationship is revealed. After the scramble for Africa in the 1880s, when countries of the Global North colonized the Global South, economic policies which benefited the core countries were implemented, giving rise to an exploitative relationship. Colonized countries were essentially forced to export raw materials. Algeria as a nation which was colonized by France was imposed an economic system which focused on the extraction of certain raw materials such as cereals, wines and minerals. These exploitative policies fostered a commodity dependence, shaping developing countries economies to be mainly based on the export of raw materials. This has serious implications when applied to Europe and Africa’s  geopolitical dynamics. This colonial legacy is not only a factor which shaped Algeria’s economy but remains one of the biggest challenges for current development efforts. 

Even when working with Europe to develop, Algeria has not significantly benefited from these trade deals, leaving the EU with the upper hand. For instance, the EU-Algeria Association Agreement outlines a framework for cooperation between both. However, when it came into effect, the EU eliminated tariffs on most Algerian exports while Algeria maintained temporary customs duties with a promised phase-out period to end by 2017. By 2017, this deadline was extended to 2020 and to this day has not been resolved. Since the Russia-Ukraine War, Europe quickly pounced attempting to further enforce these same free trade deals, ensuring the upper hand. While the EU is Algeria’s main trade partner especially in exports, Algeria is only ranked 24th for the EU’s exports. This sets them up to be the weaker actor on a global scale during this energy crisis. Whether Europe sees Algeria as an equal or for exploitation remains unclear. Besides these global concerns about the dynamics between the EU and Algeria, there are also implications for Algeria on the national level. 

Notwithstanding the EU’s perspective and ambition to further their relations with Algeria, Algeria’s position and role in this new energy dependence must also be examined. This year Algeria has been the focus of European attention as never before. Although this is positive for Algeria in terms of global recognition, their government is already struggling to cope with being the main reliant source of natural gas for Europe, particularly for Italy and Spain. The challenge becomes clear when the desire to maintain newfound attention and power conflicts with the ability to fill this new role. To meet Europe’s new demand, Algeria must increase its gas exports significantly, implying the urgent increase of gas production. This is problematic as Algeria experienced a significant downfall in natural gas reserves between 2019 and 2021 going from 4500 bcm to 2000 bcm respectively. Besides these physical constraints, there are also structural challenges which prevent Algeria from being able to fully benefit from this. The Algerian political class remains profoundly corrupt. This entails that the revenues generated by energy will likely go directly to what the government believes to be most pressing, such as Algeria’s military power to appease tensions with Morocco. Further, Algeria is setting themselves up for a tense relationship with the EU if they do not address the already present core tensions between them which arise notably from anxieties over migration. These arguments expose Europe as once again trying to take advantage of African countries. 

The energy crisis following the Russia-Ukraine war has prompted European countries to look towards Algeria as a main energy source for natural gas. This dynamic reflects Algeria and the EU’s past history with core-periphery relationships where industrialized European nations sought resources from Algeria while controlling the main terms of trade. The urgency and desire to move away from this reliance on Russia has prompted the EU to put high pressures on trade relations with Algeria. Europe’s scattered approach exposes a tendency for exploitative politics which leaves Algeria in a conundrum. While the EU has given Algeria attention and thereby power, this has come at the expense of Algeria truly benefiting from trade.

Featured image: Kadri Simson at the EU-Algerian High-Level Energy Dialogue – P061960-808379.jpg by European Commission – Photographer: Lukasz Kobus is liscenced under CC BY 4.0.

Edited by Dahlia Harrison-Irwin