Algeria shows a diplomatic upturn with Italy which takes on a particular meaning while Europe is prospecting for alternatives to Russian gas, war in Ukraine obliges. The recent ballets of visits by Italian officials to Algiers, where the red carpet is being rolled out at the energy giant Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI) – already historically well treated – testify to a most cordial atmosphere. Italy had become, in recent years, increasingly dependent on Russian energy supplies (40% of its gas imports, or about 30 billion cubic meters [m3]). It is now more than ever eyeing Algerian gas, while it is imperative for it to diversify its purchases abroad, particularly in the Mediterranean.
The overall economic relationship between the two countries has certainly always been healthy. Italy is Algeria’s third supplier (behind China and France) and its first customer (ahead of France and Spain). It is also the leading foreign investor, a status due to the weight that ENI represents on Algerian soil. History is a big part of it. The tutelary figure of the historic leader of the company, Enrico Mattei (1906-1962), a Christian Democrat politician who was a great promoter of independent Algeria (who died in 1962 after a mysterious plane crash), has always acted bridge between the two countries.
A “friendly” company
“ENI is a company considered to be a friend of Algeria, a friend of the Algerian revolution at the time, notes Akram Kharief, Algerian security expert and founder of the Menadefense site. It is very difficult to compete with her. » In recent weeks, the glorification in the Algerian press of this memory has reached unprecedented levels. “The esteem for Italy is felt among the people of the people”, could we read, on March 30, in an editorial of the official daily El Mujahid.
The staging, in Algiers, of friendship with Italy does not date from the war in Ukraine. The distinguished welcome reserved in the Algerian capital for the Italian President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, during a visit in November 2021, had already sent a first message in the midst of the crisis between Algiers and Paris. The recent Algerian-Spanish turbulence on the Western Sahara issue – following concessions made by Madrid to Rabat – has added to the ambient Italophilia in Algeria. The words of the boss of the Algerian public company Sonatrach, Toufik Hakkar, on 1er April, referring to the possibility of “recalculate” the price of gas sold to the Spaniards, herald a probable switch over time of part of the supplies from Spain to Italy.
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