Draghi celebrates in Algeria that this country becomes the first supplier of gas to Italy – El Correo

The Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, together with the Algerian President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, this Monday in Algiers / efeIn the midst of a political crisis in his country, the head of government in Rome travels to the North African nation to guarantee supply and overcome Russian dependence, although his Government is in the midst of a political crisis and may be living its last days in power, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi traveled to Algeria on Monday to strengthen ties with the North African country and guarantee the supply of hydrocarbons that will allow Italy to free itself from Russian dependency. The objective begins to be achieved when five months have not yet passed since the invasion of Ukraine ordered by Moscow began, which led to the approval of harsh European sanctions on Russia and may lead in the coming months to the end of Russian gas exports to the Old Continent. «In these months, Algeria has become the main supplier of gas to our country. A few days ago, the Algerian company Sonatrach announced the next shipment of 4,000 million cubic meters of gas to Italy within the scope of the agreement signed with Eni in April”, commented Draghi in Algiers, where he met with the president of the North African country, Abdelmadjid Tebboune . Accompanied by several ministers and company representatives, the Italian head of government took advantage of his stay to sign various institutional and economic cooperation agreements, in areas such as renewable energy, the pharmaceutical industry and infrastructure, in addition to the fight against corruption. With this trip, which has been maintained despite the seriousness of the political crisis that his country is going through, Draghi returns Tebboune’s visit to Rome at the end of May and consolidates the relationship between Algeria and Italy, vital for the European nation to can guarantee its gas needs without having to resort to Moscow. The Algiers authorities are also very interested in having excellent harmony with those of Rome, even more so at the current moment of crisis in relations between Spain and the North African country after the turnaround of the Pedro Sánchez government on Western Sahara. . The successes of the visit to Algeria contrast with the gloomy atmosphere that Draghi found on his return to Rome, in whose Parliament he will appear this Wednesday to account for the political crisis and submit to a confidence vote. This is what the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, asked of him after the Chief Executive presented his resignation last Thursday after losing the support of one of the parties of the government coalition, the 5 Star Movement. The continuity of the Government would go through the departure of that political force from the Cabinet, although there are also many possibilities that the current crisis will lead to the calling of early elections.