France escalates Algeria trade dispute to EU-level

The diplomatic rift between France and Algeria is being escalated to Brussels.

France on Friday asked the European Commission to look into Algeria’s alleged non-compliance with a EU trade deal.

Paris is accusing Algers of an almost total blockade on French imports and of suspending urea shipments to France.

The EU-Algeria Association Agreement came into effect in 2005, liberalising trade and dismantling tariffs between European member states and the North African nation.

A spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry said the deal also allows measures in response to a party’s failure to honour its commitments. It’s asked Brussels to immediately see if those measures could be imposed.

Relations between France and Algeria have been historically complex due to their colonial past.

Tensions have escalated in recent years after French President Emmanuel Macron expressed support for Morocco in its dispute with Algeria over Western Sahara.

Algeria last year passed a law calling French colonisation a “state crime” - an act France labelled “manifestly hostile."