Prime minister says France must increase power interconnections

  • Lusa
  • 10 December 2021

According to António Costa, Portugal is one of the EU member states most exposed to price variation due to the low level of interconnections with Spain and the Iberian Peninsula with France.

Portugal’s prime minister said on Thursday there had to be an increase in energy interconnections between Portugal and Spain and between the Iberian Peninsula and France, stressing that France must fulfil its commitments in this regard.

António Costa was speaking in the parliamentary debate on the agenda of the next European Council, to be held in Brussels on the 15th and 16th, where one of the issues under discussion is related to the current situation of rising energy prices.

In the area of energy, practically all benches criticised the government’s actions, either for not reducing taxes for consumers or for pardoning power utility EDP €110 million in stamp duty when there were around two million Portuguese living in energy poverty”.

“We remain subject to the logic of profit and the interests of multinationals,” Communist parliamentary leader João Oliveira said.

“In the next European Council, Portugal will insist on the need to accelerate the energy transition, which is the way to reduce the cost of energy for consumers in a sustained manner,” Costa said.

According to the prime minister, Portugal is one of the European Union member states most exposed to price variation due to the low level of interconnections with Spain and the Iberian Peninsula with France.

“This is an issue that has been dragging on for a long time and where it is essential to find solutions within the European framework. Portugal has scrupulously complied with the anticipation of the closure of coal-fired electricity production. Therefore, it is time for France to fulfil the obligations it has assumed of allowing the increase of interconnections,” Costa stressed.

He added that this matter “is essential for the national market, but also so that the countries of central Europe may have an adequate energy mix and to strengthen Europe’s energy security”.