The President of the Government, António Costa, assured this Friday afternoon in Prague that he will “persevere” before the French President, in defense of the interconnections of the Iberian Peninsula to the European energy network. But, Emmanuel Macron speaks about environmental issues and demands coherence, despite “times of crisis”.
The head of the Portuguese Government believes that the Iberian Peninsula has all the arguments in its favour, as an alternative to guarantee European energy security, since it has the “closest port to some of the main suppliers of natural gas”.
“Starting with the United States, Nigeria and Trinidad and Tobago”, exemplified the prime minister, at the end of the summit in which the 27 devoted themselves, for long hours, to a debate on the energy crisis in Europe.
António Costa sees, also for this reason, “very large comparative advantages for the unloading of gas in our territory and the transport to the north and center of Europe”. This transport can be carried out “by sea or directly by gas pipeline when it exists”.
But, with ecological arguments, the French president appeals for consistency and announces that he intends to meet in Paris with the heads of the two Iberian governments, to whom he will explain France’s motivations for rejecting an option that is seen as an alternative to gas . Russian.
“We all have to think carefully if building a gas pipeline in the middle of the Pyrenees in protected areas is the best solution,” said Emmanuel Macron, while acknowledging that “we are in crisis.” “I am trying to be consistent with our climate and biodiversity agenda,” he argued.
But, making it clear that all solutions will not be for now, he said: “I believe that our objectives that we must pursue – and I say this very clearly – are to complete the opening of the Iberian Peninsula in terms of gas, hydrogen and electricity, and to seek the mechanisms that are the most important and the most relevant routes with the strategy that we will have for the years and decades to come”.
“In a few days I will see myself in Paris with the President of the Government, Sánchez, and the President of the Government, Costa. And we are going to seek very pragmatic agreements between the three, because that is how things are done and that is how they are done well in Europe, “said Macron.
Costa considers that “we must persist. Also, because President Macron, who said that he is not the same Macron who in 2018 signed a declaration in Lisbon that predicted both the increase in electricity interconnections and the increase in gas interconnections”.
António Costa travels to Berlin on Friday of next week, where he will debate with the head of the Spanish Government and with Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz the issue of interconnections, now that Germany joins the Iberian dispute.
“Germany, as we know, had an energy policy based on the supply of natural gas from Russia. Everything has radically changed and therefore Germany has to reorient its sources of supply,” he said, stressing that “naturally, Germany now looks to the Iberian Peninsula in a different way than it did before”.
Regarding the debate at the summit, in the part dedicated to energy, Costa speaks of a “very broad consensus” around the proposals put forward by the president of the European Commission.
The President of the Government, António Costa, considers that this is a “working basis” for the discussions until the next big meeting, and stresses that some of the proposals are in line with what the Portuguese government has defended.
“Set a maximum price for gas, develop the platform, joint gas purchases and also strengthen the unity of the energy market through the development of interconnections between the Member States of the European Union,” he stressed.
Source: TSF
