Algeria’s former prime minister Ahmed Benbitour said his country would not reap any benefits from membership of the new Union for the Mediterranean, in comments published on Tuesday.
“I do not foresee our membership of the union bearing any fruit,” Benbitour said in an interview published in the Arab-language daily El Khabar.
“Algeria’s membership will profit the European countries.”
Benbitour was Algeria’s prime minister for less than a year from 1999 to 2000.
He said that relaunching the Maghreb Union, a north African grouping that has been dormant since 1994 due to political disagreements, would be better for Algeria’s economic intergration in the region.
The new Mediterranean forum, launched last week, brings together the 27 countries of the European Union with states from North Africa, the Balkans and Arab nations with Israel to foster cooperation in the volatile Middle East. – AFP