Lisbon, Madrid, Paris agree on energy connection project
The Spanish prime minister has revealed that Portugal, Spain and France have "reached an agreement" for the creation of a gas pipeline, a project called the "green energy corridor".
The governments of Portugal, France and Spain reached an agreement on Thursday to speed up Iberian interconnections, abandoning the existing project, intended only for gas, for another that envisages a maritime pipeline to transport ‘green’ hydrogen as well.
“We have reached an agreement – the three governments – to replace the MindCat project with a new project, which will be called a ‘green’ energy corridor, which will link the Iberian Peninsula to France and the European energy market, through the Barcelona and Marseille alternative, building a pipeline for ‘green’ hydrogen and also, during the transition, for gas [… ] between Barcelona and Marseille”, announced the head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, on arrival at the European Council in Brussels and after a meeting between the three leaders this morning.
Speaking of “good news”, Pedro Sánchez said that the agreement reached today, after “many months of intense work between the government of France, Portugal and Spain”, provides for the acceleration of “the interconnection process”.
And according to the head of the Spanish government, the go-ahead was possible after the fulfilment of “three premises”, namely the fact that, in addition to gas and renewable hydrogen, the interconnections can also be electric, are aligned with the ecological transition and also respond to calls for solidarity at a time when the European Union (EU) fears a lack of gas this winter.
Pedro Sánchez said that at a meeting on the sidelines of the Euromed (Euro-Mediterranean) Partnership meeting, taking place on 8 and 9 December in the Spanish city of Alicante, the three leaders will finalise details such as “deadlines for investments”, the “distribution of costs” and the “volume of economic resources that will have to be allocated”.
“I want to thank the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for his openness and his solidarity and work with the Portuguese prime minister, António Costa,” the Spanish head of government said.
The Portuguese prime minister, António Costa, met this morning in Brussels with his Spanish counterpart and the French president to discuss the energy crisis at a meeting also attended by the ministers of the three countries.
At the end of the meeting, António Costa said he was “very satisfied”.
