On the sidelines of the inauguration of the headquarters of the Council of the Portuguese Diaspora, in Cascais, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was questioned by journalists about criticism of the agreement reached this week between Portugal, Spain and France on the Iberian connections, with especially that of PSD vice-president Paulo Rangel, who warned that this agreement harms Portugal.
The president of the republic declined to comment on statements from political leaders, recalling that there was “a dead end” as France “did not accept any form of interconnection” after the change of presidency.
“There was an insurmountable obstacle, the position of the French government. That obstacle was overcome. They will tell me: but it would have been better if it had been different, it would have been different if it had been different. The reality is that it was zero, it was total opposition,” he said.
In the opinion of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, it was “possible to overcome this contradiction” and “make the connection in terms that were different from what was thought a few years ago”.
“Politics is made of this, it is not made of the ideal, it is made of what is possible and here the possible is nothing or a reality like this, now at the summit between Portugal and Spain is paving the way to see how the funding and see how the very important is turned into materialization because every month that goes by, every semester that goes by is a problem, not just for Portugal and Spain, not even especially, it’s for Europe because it’s about the gas supply and tomorrow of green hydrogen for Europe,” he defended.
For the President of the Republic, this is “by far a much better way out than the no way out that existed until three days ago.”
António Costa, Pedro Sánchez and Emmanuel Macron decided on Thursday to proceed with a “Green Energy Corridor”, by sea, between Barcelona and Marseille (BarMar) instead of crossing the Pyrenees (MidCat).
The timetable, sources of funding and costs related to the implementation of the BarMar green corridor will be discussed at a new three-way meeting in Alicante, Spain, in December.
According to the text of the agreement, to which Lusa had access, the energy ministers of the three countries – who were also present at the meeting – will immediately start the preparatory work to move forward with BarMar and also to strengthen the interconnections between Spain and France, “in close consultation with the European Commission”.
The two Iberian prime ministers and the French president also reached an agreement on the need to complete “future renewable gas interconnections between Portugal and Spain, namely the connection between Celorico da Beira and Zamora (CelZa)”.
The infrastructure that will be created for the distribution of hydrogen “must be technically adapted to transport other renewable gases, as well as a limited share of natural gas as a temporary and temporary energy source”.
António Costa believed the agreement would allow “to overcome a historic blockade” on Iberian gas and electricity interconnections.
Source: DN
