Europe has been silent about the political crisis unfolding in Algeria over the past nine months. In the eyes of the Algerian opposition and the public in general, such silence is sign of complicity with a military regime that has been committing human rights abuses.
The strange silence of the European Union on the events shaking Algeria since 22 February is not fortuitous. In Brussels as in Strasbourg, the French city that houses the seat of the European Parliament, lobbyists for two major oil companies are alleged to have been working frantically for several weeks to prevent Members of the European Parliament from adopting emergency measures or even issuing a simple statement that could put the Algerian regime in great difficulty.
This information has been confirmed by Member of European Parliament, Raphael Glucksmann. The latter dropped a bombshell on Twitter, on Friday, 22 November, when he reported alleged ongoing lobbying efforts to prevent the taking place of a debate on the situation in Algeria, even though “everyone recognizes that the arrests of protesters are a disaster.”
In and outside of Algeria, pro-democracy activists link the alleged lobbying efforts of ENI and Total to a “confidential discovery” of major gas reserves off the coast of Skikda, northeast Algeria. They say the finding may be as big as that of Egypt’s Zhor project, hence explaining why the Algerian military command has been frantically pushing for a new petroleum law, all under strict secrecy.
