For Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, this week’s visit to Berlin was his first official visit to Germany since being elected president in 2019. Highlights of the two-day trip joint statement with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in which both leaders emphasized the “quality of cooperation” between their countries and promised to deepen long-term energy cooperation.
“Algeria is a central partner for Europe’s energy security. Cooperation on natural gas supplies and renewable energy is to be expanded. In the long term, it is about establishing a Southern Hydrogen Corridor from North Africa to Germany,” Cerstin Gamelin, a spokesman for German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, posted on Twitter on Thursday.
Algeria is home to Africa’s second largest proven natural gas reserves, after Nigeria. It is also Africa’s largest natural gas producer. On July 2, Algeria’s state-owned energy company Sonatrach delivered its first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) directly to Germany’s Wilhelmshaven 1 floating LNG import terminal. A direct pipeline to Germany would eliminate the need for liquefaction, LNG shipping and regasification for those volumes. This could reduce transportation costs for gas deliveries, as is already the case with Algeria’s two existing pipelines to Italy and Spain.
“The war in Iran and the disruption of oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz have reinforced Algeria’s energy importance,” said Alice Gower, director of geopolitics and security at Azure Strategy, a London-based consultancy firm.
“Although Algeria cannot replace Gulf supply, its pipeline gas reaches southern Europe without passing through the Gulf shipping lane, offering European governments supply diversification at a time of renewed concern about energy security,” he said.
This view is expressed by Hafed al-Ghwail, director of the North Africa, Mediterranean and Sahel program at the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank. Al-Ghawel told DW that he recently met with Algeria’s foreign minister and cabinet members.
“You can understand very clearly that there is the political will at the highest levels of government that Algeria needs to take advantage of what is happening globally as well as its unique position as a major gas producer,” he said.
Algeria at major strategic crossroads
Gower said Algeria’s value to Europe extends far beyond gas. “Algiers offers cooperation on counter-terrorism, migration and stability in the Mediterranean,” he told DW.
Over the years, Algeria has cooperated with European countries on migration management, including returns, border issues and combating smuggling networks.
Furthermore, Algiers holds a distinguished diplomatic status, maintaining relations with both Iran and the United States, as well as the Gulf countries, China, and Russia. It is also located at a major strategic crossroads between North Africa and the Sahel region.
“President Tebboune has also placed a renewed emphasis on African cooperation, reflecting Algeria’s ambition to act as a bridge between North Africa, the Sahel and the wider continent,” Gower said.
However, he also said that this approach is a reaction to pressure. Algeria has become increasingly isolated over the issue of Morocco’s claim to the disputed Western Sahara region. While Algeria supports the local Polisario Front in its quest for independence, Morocco considers Western Sahara as part of its territory.
After US President Donald Trump recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory in 2020, Spain, France and several African countries followed suit.
“Algiers’ outreach also aims to preserve its regional influence amid Morocco’s growing initiative,” observers wrote in a March analysis from the Institute for Security Studies.
The authors also highlighted that Algeria plays an important role in the Sahel as it shares more than 2,280 kilometers (1,420 mi) of border with Mali and Niger, and faces many of the same challenges, including terrorism, cross-border crime and irregular migration. “Reopening dialogue will serve the security, economic and political interests of all.”
Algiers has recently sought to improve relations with Mali and Niger. It also supports a political solution for its third-largest neighbor Libya, which is de facto divided into two administrative parts.
domestic pressure
“A basic principle in political science is that foreign policy often reflects domestic politics,” Toufic Bougada, a political science professor at the University of Algiers, told DW.
In his view, this is also true for the situation in Algeria. Hafed el-Ghwail of the Stimson Center also said that Algeria is now able to leverage its current stability to address internal dynamics.
“Private sector investment from abroad can help create jobs and address high levels of youth unemployment in particular,” he said.
Algeria has not yet published the official 2026 youth unemployment rate. The latest available estimate from the World Bank puts youth unemployment at around 29-30%.
Furthermore, after the Hirak pro-democracy protest movement in 2019 led to the resignation of the country’s veteran ruler Abdelaziz Bouteflika, many of the movement’s demands for greater political openness have not been met. Algeria’s political system remains controversial to this day.
Hopes for reform in Algeria have largely faded following the 2019 Hirak protests, according to the Bertelsmann Transformation Index 2026, with the country “largely returning to pre-Arab Spring conditions.” Washington-based think tank Freedom House has again classified Algeria as “not free” in its Freedom in the World 2026. report.
recent assessment Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have described Algeria as experiencing a continuing contraction of civic space. HRW noted that authorities continued to prosecute journalists, activists, and online critics.
That’s why Gowar remains alert. “Algeria’s growing geopolitical value has changed the balance of international engagement,” he said, “giving Algeria more scope to pursue its domestic agenda with less external pressure.”
Edited by Rainer Solich