07 October 2022, Czech Republic, Prague: Spanish Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez (C) arrives to attend the second day of the European Political Community meeting at Prague Castle. Photo: Deml Ondej/CTK/dpa – Deml Ondej/CTK/dpa
Spain, France and Portugal will meet in Paris to discuss interconnections
7 (EUROPE PRESS)
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has been convinced this Friday that “before rather than later” there will be an agreement on the construction of the Midcat gas pipeline “that manages to marry all the sensitivities and concerns that France has”.
“I am convinced that we are going to be able to achieve a good agreement with a good friend and ally such as the French Government,” stressed the President in an appearance before the media after the informal meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the European Union held in Prague (Czech Republic).
Sánchez has confirmed that he will meet in Paris with Macron and the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa, before the next European Council is held at the end of October to address not only gas interconnections, but also hydrogen and electricity interconnections .
The president has assured that during the informal meeting of these days he has had the opportunity to present to President Macron, individually, and also to the entire European Council, his vision on the need to promote interconnections.
“I believe that one way or another, sooner rather than later, we are going to reach an agreement that manages to marry all the sensitivities and all the concerns that France has in this case,” the president assured.
Sánchez’s words come a day after the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, once again made clear his rejection of MidCat to unite the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of the EU through the Pyrenees because he believes that electrical interconnections should be prioritized.
But Sánchez has insisted that “Spain wants to be in solidarity with Europe” in terms of interconnections, recalling that Europe is late in meeting the commitments that had been made in this area. So far this year, 10% of the total gas consumed in Europe is exported from Spain, of which 6.5% is liquefied natural gas and the rest is piped gas.
The president has defended the need to comply with the commitments that both the Madrid summit of 2015 and the Lisbon summit of 2018 assumed. Sánchez recalled that in 2020, according to the commitments, there should be 10% interconnections and that percentage is still below 5%. “We are going very, very late,” the president acknowledged.
“What we want is to take advantage of the fact that we all agreed on the construction of a pipeline to transport hydrogen in the future and that we begin the construction of this infrastructure so that at this time, due to supply problems, it also serves to transport gas to the Europe as a whole,” said the president.
“THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THAT EUROPE OPENS UP TO INTERVENTION IN GAS”
During his appearance before the media, Sánchez has shown his “pride” about the Iberian mechanism of the gas cap, since there are many more countries in Europe that also intend to import this exception to make it the common norm.
“I think this is very good news, because it shows that an intervention is recognized as such in the market by the rest of the governments,” the president stressed.
According to Sánchez, this mechanism has already allowed Spain to save 2,600 million euros for the country’s consumers since its entry into force in mid-June. “We are talking about very large amounts in a short time and therefore demonstrate the benefits and virtues of this Iberian mechanism”, he emphasized.
REFORM OF EUROPEAN FISCAL RULES
The president has also addressed during his speech the reform of fiscal rules, which are currently suspended. Sánchez has insisted that they are “too complex and difficult to comply with” in the current context, and therefore believes that an agreement must be reached before the end of the year at European level.
“We must review them with a double objective: firstly, to preserve solid public finances by guaranteeing their sustainability, and secondly, to reinforce sustainable growth by increasing public and private investment in areas aimed at vectors of development and economic growth”, the president stressed.
In addition, the head of the Spanish Executive has stressed his desire for the debate to take place in an “inclusive manner”, so that it does not generate divisions or opposing blocs “as happened after the financial crisis”.
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