EU allocates 700 million against COVID-19 to Morocco and Tunisia, but ignores Algeria
The European Union will allocate a total of EUR 700 million to two of its Maghreb neighbours, Morocco and Tunisia, to deal with the COVID-19 epidemic; EUR 450 million will go to the former - in two stages, the most urgent one reaching EUR 150 million - and EUR 250 million to the latter. Despite the fact that the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs assured last 25 March that the Community authorities are preparing an aid package for Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine, there is currently no specific amount planned for Algeria's neighbours.
It was on Friday 27 March that the EU announced, in a joint note signed by the Community and Moroccan authorities, constant and substantial aid for Morocco: 450 million euros, which will arrive in the Maghreb country in two stages. 150 million of this sum has already been allocated to the special fund dedicated to the management of the pandemic, created on 15 March by King Mohamed VI (in fact, the EU is the first donor to this fund at the moment). As for the rest of the money, Oliver Varhelyi, the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, said that the “Commission will use all possible flexibility to redirect 300 million euros of the funds destined for Morocco towards the response to the pandemic, accelerating its mobilisation to respond to the country's exceptional budgetary needs”.
The Moroccan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, did not hesitate to react and affirmed that his country “welcomes the confidence of the European Union and appreciates this gesture of solidarity,” according to the website of the Moroccan Foreign Ministry. The EU is Morocco's main trading partner, and for the EU authorities, the stability of the neighbouring country is a priority.
But the EU was not the first to support Morocco financially with a view to containing the pandemic. On the eve of the European announcement, on 26 March last, it was the United States that announced through its embassy in Rabat an allocation of 6.6 million dirhams (equivalent to 660,000 euros), considerably more modest than that of the EU. Initially the money, coming from the USAID agency, will go towards preparing Moroccan laboratories to carry out large-scale detection tests, to implement an emergency plan for public health, to activate the detection of cases and epidemiological surveillance and to train rapid intervention teams, states the website of the weekly TelQuel quoting the American ambassador in Rabat David T. Fischer. “With long-standing partners like Morocco, we are working together to improve the global capacity to contain epidemics at their source and minimize their impact. These investments and the U.S.-Moroccan partnership are essential to quickly and effectively prepare for emerging threats, including the current COVID-19 epidemic,” the diplomat said.
The truth is that the aforementioned special solidarity fund - to which large, but also medium and small Moroccan public institutions and private firms have contributed - has exceeded 30 billion dirhams, the equivalent of 3 billion euros.
But it is not only solidarity that has been expressed from the north to the south. The Council of the European Union announced on 27 March that Rabat guarantees the Andalusian fleet that it will be able to continue fishing in Moroccan waters during the second quarter of the year, despite the state of health emergency in the neighbouring country, which will initially last until 20 April. To this end, Spanish vessels must carry a copy of the relevant documentation.
As for Tunisia, the European Union announced on March 28th, through the Twitter account of the EU ambassador in the Maghreb country, Patrice Bergamini, an immediate donation of 250 million Euros to alleviate the economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic. Bergamini also said that the EU had tripled the funds allocated to the Essaha Aziza health technical assistance programme, thanks to which 60 million euros will be allocated to all Tunisian governorates, the Tunisie Numerique website reported.
Also, this Monday the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced a contribution of 400 million euros to public institutions - such as the Tunisian Society of Electricity and Gas (STEG) - and small and medium enterprises in Tunisia, was published on the website L'Économiste Maghrebin. The financial crisis in the small Maghreb state is causing concern in the region, in Brussels and in Washington.
On the other hand, China has also made a gesture of solidarity towards Tunisia. Last Saturday a donation of medical equipment from the Asian giant (several thousand masks, screening kits and protective uniforms) arrived in the Maghreb country. In addition to the material that has already arrived in the Maghreb state, Beijing will contribute a sum that is not yet known for the construction of a new university hospital in the city of Sfax, echoed the weekly Réalités.
And from Tunisia to Algeria, where the European gap is filled by China, which is strengthening its presence. The Asian giant, a traditional partner of the Algerian regime, recently announced the construction of a hospital in Algeria for coronavirus patients. The medical centre - for the moment the location and construction time is unknown - will have the capacity to care for 9,000 people. According to data from the Chinese agency Xinhua, of those places, 4,000 will be reserved for Chinese workers in the Maghreb country and the remaining 5,000 for locals.
In addition, on Friday 27 March a batch of medical material from the Asian giant arrived in Algiers. Specifically, “a medical team made up of seven members and a work team of five” and medical material worth 3.23 million yuan (about 420,000 euros). The lot included 500,000 surgical masks, 50,000 N95 masks and 2,000 medical protection uniforms, in addition to a dozen intensive care respirators and detection kits, according to the state news agency. According to the French Le Nouvel Observateur, this is a donation by the Chinese construction giant CSCEC on behalf of Beijing. And last week the Chinese Embassy in Algiers warned that more aid is on the way.
China ranks first among exporters to Algeria with sales valued at 517 million euros according to data from January 2020 - the equivalent of 18% of Algerian imports -, Le Nouvel Observateur reported.
The continued fall in oil prices - fuelled by the drop in demand resulting from the coronavirus crisis - has forced the Algerian authorities to ask for two emergency meetings of OPEC - as Iraq had done two weeks ago - for a panel to evaluate the evolution of the markets. The last attempt took place this Sunday, as reported by the local media El Watan. The request of the Maghribian country -which holds the rotating presidency of the organization- is not being addressed at the moment. According to a delegate of the organization quoted by the Bloomberg agency at the end of March on condition of anonymity, Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that oppose the Algerian proposal.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Russia seem to be close to reaching an agreement to reduce oil production and to make prices rise. The OPEC countries will initially meet by videoconference on Thursday after the one scheduled for Monday was postponed.
The truth is that the negotiations between Moscow and Riyadh on Monday led to a rebound in oil prices after reaching a low of 18 years. After Tuesday's fall and pending Thursday's meeting, crude oil prices rose on Wednesday. Brent crude oil rose early in the day by 2.3% to $32.59 a barrel and Texas intermediate oil rose by 5.5% to $24.93 a barrel, according to data from digital The Star Online. A real slide that reflects the uncertainty.
A recovery in oil prices is essential for Algerian finances: hydrocarbons account for 90 to 95% of its exports in value and 60% of the state budget.
The situation of the pandemic in the above-mentioned Maghreb countries is similar: the number of confirmed cases has never reached 1,500, although the limited scope of the screening tests suggests that the actual figures are far higher than the official ones.
In absolute terms, Algeria is the country that, at the close of this text, accounted for the largest number of cases of COVID-19: 1,666. Local authorities report 235 deaths and 347 recoveries. It is followed by Morocco with a total of 1,374 confirmed infections and 97 deaths. Moroccan authorities register 109 recovered citizens.
Of the three countries, Tunisia is the one with the lowest number of citizens infected by coronavirus, although it is the one with the highest percentage of cases in relation to the total population. In the small Maghreb country, which has 11.8 million inhabitants, 643 infections, 25 deaths and 25 cases of cured persons are reported.