The prime minister today was perplexed by the PSD’s criticism of the principle of agreement between Portugal, Spain and France for European energy interconnections and accused Social Democratic leader Paulo Rangel of being unaware of the matter.
António Costa spoke to journalists after participating in a digital skills conference at the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE), after being asked about PSD’s criticism of the deal reached on Thursday in Brussels between the governments of Portugal, France and Spain . speed up power connections.
“I am absolutely stunned by what I have heard this weekend from the PSD and other people who had an obligation to be minimally informed about this agreement. The PSD doesn’t really surprise me, because 15 years ago it was against renewables and five years ago it was against green hydrogen and therefore it makes sense that it is against the existence of a green energy corridor,” explained the leader of the executive power.
António Costa rejected the claim that Portugal would suffer damage from this agreement, mainly because electrical connections were allegedly broken.
“On the contrary, France even has the will to increase them. And last year an agreement was signed between France and Spain to advance the two electrical interconnections,” he objected.
According to the prime minister, it was not the issue of electrical interconnections that blocked an agreement between Portugal and Spain with France.
“What blocked the interconnections has to do with the gas pipeline. In Brussels, Thursday was about what needed to be tackled,” he emphasized.
Costa on Rangel: “He knows nothing about energy, he completely ignores everything to do with this agreement”
Faced with criticism from PSD Vice-President Paulo Rangel, António Costa believed that the social-democratic MEP “has already become accustomed to a person who is not looking for means to say anything to attack the adversary.” fall”.
“He knows nothing about energy, he totally ignores everything to do with this deal and if you go through what I’ve said about anything and everything over the years, you’ll notice that the speed of disapproval from Paulo Rangel is very high,” he stated.
According to the Portuguese government, the agreement makes it possible to definitively surpass the old project, the so-called MidCat, and develop a new project, called the Green Energy Corridor, which will make it possible to supplement the interconnections between Portugal and Spain , between Celorico da Beira and Zamora, and also on a connection between Spain and the rest of Europe, connecting Barcelona and Marseille by sea”.
At stake, according to António Costa, is “a gas pipeline focused on ‘green’ hydrogen or other renewable gases and which can be used temporarily to transport natural gas to a certain part”.
The energy interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe have been discussed since 2009 under the auspices of former Prime Minister José Sócrates, then reinforced by Portugal and Spain, with – in 2015 – the then President of the European Union of the Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, championed its implementation to reduce Russia’s energy dependence.
In March 2015, Barroso’s successor in the leadership of the European executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, met in Madrid former French President François Hollande, former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the then chede of the Portuguese government. Pedro Passos Coelho, to agree on ways to strengthen the Iberian Peninsula’s ties to the rest of the EU’s energy market.
“The previous agreement was a nice deal, but it was no accident that 2018 was reached without any steps being taken. And from 2018 to now no progress has been made either, after the two Spanish and French regulars failed,” he said. Antonio Costa.
According to the prime minister, recent years have been about reinventing the pipeline, if Portugal and Spain really wanted it.
With regard to gas, he pointed out that only Spain has “a third of the regasification capacity of all of Europe, with seven terminals, while Portugal essentially has one, in Sines”.
“Therefore, competition in this area would never be beneficial to Portugal. On the other hand, in terms of the production of green hydrogen and other renewable gases, since Portugal started investing in renewable energy sources earlier, it now has better conditions for its production. Secondly, the Port of Sines will continue to have the same capacity as it should already be a place for unloading natural gas – and nothing is affected yet,” he claimed, contradicting the PSD’s position.
Also in response to PSD criticism, António Costa stated that the Barcelona issue is “only now being introduced because it is the closest point to Marseille, which in turn is the point where the backbone of the European natural gas network ends”.
“France accepted that the obstacle of the Pyrenees had to be bypassed and that we would reach Marseille. From Portugal’s point of view, reaching Spain is fundamental and Spain reaching France is decisive for us,” he argues.
The question for Portugal, according to the executive’s leader, is that the planned connection to transport only natural gas “could serve mainly for the transport of energy that Portugal can produce”.
“I find it very difficult to understand the reluctance,” he added.
Costa rejects drama in home loans but wants ECB caution
The prime minister also believed that the effect of the rise in interest rates on housing loans is controlled by the government and should be viewed without drama, but called for caution in the actions of the European Central Bank (ECB).
This view was conveyed by António Costa, after being asked about government measures to help families with housing loans, in a context of high interest rates.
“We have closely followed the evolution of credit at the Bank of Portugal and the Portuguese Banking Association and the state budget for 2023 has a specific measure that allows an increase in the liquidity of households holding home loans in assets, as these households can reduce the of one step in the IRS withholding tax’, he replied.
According to the Prime Minister, there was also a clear desire among the banks to “find the best ways to absorb the impact of the rise in interest rates through negotiations with customers”, and he already referred to this in the pandemic period, there was tension around this housing loan issue and the issue was also “overcome” through negotiations.
“We are going to approve a diploma that will facilitate these negotiations and eliminate the costs associated with these negotiations. Therefore, I think we should face the situation we are experiencing without drama,” he defended.
According to the executive branch, the policy of “normalization” of interest rates by the ECB will point to a long-term stabilization of reference rates at around two percent.
“It is not desirable for interest rates to rise so much” [até aos 3%] and the ECB must be very careful in raising interest rates to contain inflation. We understand that this inflation is less the result of having a large amount of money in circulation (and a large influx of people’s incomes) and more of an imported and well-known cause, namely Russia’s war against Ukraine – a war that the rift exacerbated supply chains and introduced the added fact of an energy crisis,” he stressed.
In other words, for António Costa: “It’s not with interest rates that you fight inflation”.
“The ECB must be careful in applying the interest rate raising mechanism, but it must be aware that variable rates are on an upward trend. I am convinced that between Banco de Portugal, the Portuguese Banking Association and With the mechanisms that the government has in place, it will be possible to prevent this evolution of interest rates from having dramatic consequences,” he insisted.
The prime minister immediately pointed out that households, with variable interest rates, will “pay more for their credit” in the short term.
“We must continue this evolution without a social crisis or loss of housing, because the right to housing is a fundamental right of families and it must be guaranteed and protected,” he added.
Costa says CGTP-IN, as a rule, never has to sign agreements
On the same occasion, the prime minister downplayed the fact that the CGTP-IN did not sign the agreement on salary developments and careers in public administration this Monday until 2026, saying that, as a rule, this trade union center never makes any agreement.
“Of course the government would really like the CGTP-IN to sign this agreement, but as is known, the CGTP-IN has as a rule not to sign the agreements. Please do not sign this”, said.
The executive then commented that “for the first time in many years it was possible between the government and the social partners to sign not only a medium-term agreement for the private sector, but also a multi-year agreement on salary and career in the public sector”.
“I attach particular importance to the agreement on general careers in public administration. These are the careers that have lagged behind the progress achieved by the various special careers in recent years,” he added.
Costa wants national trains on future high-speed line, but emphasizes EU rules
Still at ISCTE, in Lisbon, however, the Prime Minister believed that there is political will in the government to run the trains of the future high-speed line between Lisbon and Vigo nationally, but warned that Portugal is adhering to the rules of the European Union .
When asked whether there is a possibility that the future high-speed line will be operated solely by Spanish trains, Costa said that “no one is more committed to reducing this risk and ensuring that high-speed trains are Portuguese than the government.”
Immediately afterwards, however, the executive branch noted that Portugal joined the European Union in 1986 and as such is subject to the rules regarding the internal market, competition and public procurement.
“Therefore, we have the political will, but we also have an obligation to comply with the restrictions imposed by legality,” he stressed.
According to António Costa, in the European rules there is a clear separation between the natural monopoly, that is the infrastructure, and the transport service, which can be guaranteed in competition.
“In Portugal, we have lines on which the service is not provided by CP, but by a private operator that won the tender from CP. This model of infrastructure open to the traffic of several trains is now a reality in the European unit market “, referenced.
In this regard, he referred to Portugal, which has decided to have a strategy for the railway sector that is not limited to investment in infrastructure, but also in the reconstruction of a railway cluster.
“We have a real industrial policy to give the country opportunities and the ability to produce the compositions it will use itself,” he added.
News updated at 13:36
Source: DN
