The last restrictions on commerce between the European Union and Algeria are set to expire Sept. 1. The Association Agreement, signed 15 years ago, provides a glimpse into the lucrative future then-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his immediate circle saw for themselves and the country they governed. In 2020, the position, unfortunately, is quite different.

For years, Algeria has relied upon the export of hydrocarbons to Europe and the world, while suffocating vast swathes of the private sector under a blanket of bureaucracy and corruption. Now, battered by the coronavirus pandemic, social unrest, graft and the drop in the value of hydrocarbons that began as far back as 2014, Algeria is scrambling to renegotiate the terms of the agreement while bemoaning the absence of significant European investment within the Algerian economy.

According to figures provided to The North African Journal by the president of Algeria’s national association of exporters, Ali Bey Nasri, between 2005 and 2017, Algeria imported $283 billion in goods from EU countries, while exports, principally of petroleum-based products, only reached $12 billion. The agreement as it stands, Nasri said, would be “a disaster for the national economy."

It’s one Algiers seems to be acutely aware of, with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune instructing the country’s trade minister to reassess the deal Aug. 9 — just weeks before the final provisions of the agreement kick in.