France Urges Brussels to Act on Algeria's Trade Deal Breach

France is taking its trade fight with Algeria to Brussels. The foreign ministry said Friday it will ask the European Commission to examine the conditions of Algeria's non-compliance with its association agreement with the European Union. Spokesperson Pascal Confavreux told a news conference that the deal gives room to act when commitments are broken.

The agreement, he said, contains a clause allowing appropriate measures to be taken for the non-respect of commitments. Confavreux didn't stop at asking for a review — he wanted it fast. France wants the Commission to look immediately at what it would take to switch those measures on.

The friction has been building for months. Diplomats told Reuters in October that Algiers imposed a near-blanket ban on French imports in late July, and that they were aware of an Algerian instruction last month to suspend urea shipments to France. Paris has also been trying to dial down the temperature, with its ambassador returning to Algeria to ease tensions between the two countries.

The ball is now with the Commission, which has not been asked publicly by France to do anything short of examining the activation terms. Confavreux's demand lands as one of the EU's founding members pushes the bloc to police a deal that binds Algeria to Brussels.