The general coordinator of the Popular Party, Elías Bendodo, has anticipated this Monday that his party will vote against the validation of the decree of energy saving measures of the Government, which will be debated this Thursday in an extraordinary plenary session of the Congress of Deputies. The ‘number three’ of the popular has specified, however, that his party would only be open to supporting him if the Executive includes some issues such as the protection of jobs in the industry or support for road transport, and as long as he eliminates measures that has described as “frivolous”, such as the regulation of the minimum temperature for air conditioning, a proposal that Alberto Núñez Feijóo himself defended in July just days before the decree was approved.
“From the outset, our position is ‘no’, because we believe that it is an improvisation and that there has been no dialogue. Tomorrow there is a Council of Ministers and the Government has the opportunity to withdraw the most frivolous measures, such as lowering a grade, raising a grade, take off your tie or turn off the shop window, and work on the recovery of employment or in industry or in aid for road transport. I ask you to reread the PP document, to include some of our measures and you will have our favorable vote”, Bendodo stressed at the press conference after the meeting of the party’s Steering Committee.
In addition to asking the Government to modify the decree in exchange for its support, something that the law prevents, the PP has described as “frivolous” some of the measures that it includes, among them, putting a minimum limit on air temperature conditioning in public buildings and some commercial premises (27 degrees), the same that the leader of the opposition proposed in an act in July, just ten days before the decree was approved. “The energy saving plans that set limits on activating air conditioners and heating in winter seem fine to me,” Feijóo declared on July 21.
Although Bendodo has clarified that with the adjective “frivolous” he does not refer to specific measures “but to the spirit of the decree”, he has later cited some proposals – to which he has added the removal of the tie, despite the fact that it does not appear in the decree –, which falls within that general spirit, such as establishing a maximum for heating or turning off lights in shop windows. “Many of these measures are populist, with a certain degree of frivolity. You have to be serious on this issue”, insisted the popular leader, who has once again reviewed the measures that, in the opinion of his party, are necessary to save energy in the face of the economic situation that the Russian gas cuts anticipate for the fall: “Employment for industry, road transport aid and extend the useful life of nuclear power plants”.
Criticism of the Iberian mechanism
Bendodo took advantage of the press conference to criticize the so-called ‘Iberian exception’ that Spain and Portugal agreed with the European Union to decouple the wholesale price of gas from the electricity bill and which, according to the data compiled by this newspaper, has allowed savings up to 17% to consumers. The ‘number three’ of the PP has stated, in line with statements made by Feijóo last week, that this mechanism has only served to “subsidize” gas to France. “The bill continues to skyrocket while the Government’s star measure is to subsidize gas and electricity to France. It is the Iberian pact, or the Iberian scam”, the popular leader has maintained, despite the fact that since its launch the average savings for consumers covered by the so-called regulated rate of the voluntary price for small consumers (PVPC) has remained around 17%, although on some dates in July it has exceeded 30%, in line with the Government’s forecasts. Specifically, the Iberian gas market reference for delivery in September, Mibgas, is trading at around 149 euros/MWh. On the other hand, the gas price used as a reference in the European gas market (called TTF), and which corresponds to the prices of the listed market in the Netherlands, reached 250 euros on Tuesday. Entry into the session changed trend and fell to 220 euros.
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