German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday praised the agreement reached between the leaders of Portugal, Spain and France for a “green energy corridor” for energy interconnections between the three countries.
“It is great progress to have a gas pipeline connecting France from the Iberian Peninsula,” Scholz said at the end of a summit of European Union (EU) government leaders and heads of state in Brussels.
The German leader said he was “delighted” to have achieved “a good result” “after many years” of talks.
António Costa, Pedro Sanchéz and Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday the bet on a sea connection between Barcelona and Marseille (BarMar) instead of crossing the Pyrenees.
“There is a gas pipeline from Portugal and Spain to France and then the connection to the center of Europe is possible. I am very happy,” said Olaf Scholz, who had explicitly supported the project.
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 scheduled for December 9 in Alicante (Spain).
According to the text agreed between the three countries, to which Lusa had access, the respective energy ministers – who were also present at the meeting – will immediately start the preparatory work to make progress with BarMar and also to strengthen the electrical connections between Spain and France, “in close consultation with the European Commission”.
The maritime pipeline was chosen as “the most direct and efficient option to connect the Iberian Peninsula”, mainly for the transport of hydrogen.
The two Iberian Prime Ministers and the French President also agreed 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 to 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”.
In this sense, the Iberian Midcat project was abandoned.
Source: DN
