PM in Berlin for talks on energy with Scholz, Spain’s Sánchez

  • Lusa
  • 14 October 2022

The meeting is to take place one week before European Union heads of state and government are to meet in Brussels, on October 20 and 21.

Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, is on Friday to meet in Berlin with Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sánchez, to discuss, among other things, matters relating to “energy supply” in the European Union.

According to the German government, the meeting, scheduled for 6.30 p.m. local time at the chancellor’s office, should also address “the violation of international law by Russia against Ukraine and issues of reconstruction of the country.”

The meeting is to take place one week before European Union heads of state and government are to meet in Brussels, on October 20 and 21, for a summit at which measures for intervention in the energy market are expected to be decided.

Last week, Costa told journalists in Prague that Portugal and Spain will not give up on the ‘Midcat’ project – a gas pipeline to connect the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of Europe through the Pyrenees – despite the resistance shown by France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, who said that electricity interconnections should be the priority.

Scholz, in turn, reiterated his support for the pipeline idea, describing it as a “fundamental element” in guaranteeing the energy supply of the European Union member states that are most dependent on Russian gas.

No news conference is scheduled after Friday evening’s meeting between Costa, Scholz and Sánchez, but a joint communiqué is to be issued, and Costa is expected to make statements to journalists on his way out of the chancellor’s office.

In his role as leader of Portugal’s governing Socialist Party (PS), Costa is then to proceed to a meeting of party leaders from across Europe, in the form of a dinner scheduled for 8.30 p.m. local time, which forms part of the congress of the Party of European Socialist (PSE), taking place on Friday and Saturday.