Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has accused an unnamed European country of blocking the revision of the agreement between Algeria and the European Union, in an apparent reference to France during an interview in which he also addressed tensions with Paris.

“Revising the agreement with the European Union has become inevitable. One country does not have the right to impose its refusal on the other 27,” he said on Monday, 27 July, during an interview with Algerian media, according to Germany’s DPA news agency.

Tebboune did not identify the country he was referring to. The remark nevertheless appeared to target France, as he also responded during the same interview to French statements on visas and disputes between the two countries over their shared history.

Paris believes that renegotiations cannot move forward while Algeria maintains trade restrictions and measures deemed discriminatory towards French companies, France’s ambassador to Algeria, Stéphane Romatet, said in January.

An agreement that has become “outdated”

Algeria’s official APS news agency reported that Tebboune considered a revision necessary because the Algerian economy had entered a new phase of production diversification.

To illustrate this shift, he cited cement: Algeria was still importing three million tonnes in 2016, while its production capacity now exceeds 40 million tonnes.

According to remarks reported by DPA, the Algerian president said the agreement signed in 2005 reflected a period when Algeria was emerging from a decade of violence and had few products to export.

“Today, the situation is completely different,” he said, pointing to domestic production that has replaced some imports and is now seeking more markets abroad.

Algeria therefore wants better access to the European market for its products, while rejecting the idea that a single member state should be able, in Tebboune’s words, to block the agreement’s revision.