"Spanish taxpayers have paid for the regasification and liquefied gas storage facilities for decades, now it's up to the European Union to pay for the interconnections with the continent."
That is the message that the President of the Government,
Pedro Sánchez,
claims to have sent to his community partners and the Brussels institutions and the one that he reiterated this Tuesday, in a very direct way, at the end of the informal summit of Heads of State and Government .
Our country, together with
Portugal
, is isolated and eight years after concrete commitments were signed to promote the energy connection through France, almost nothing has been done.
And
Sánchez hopes that European funds
cover that decade of delay.
Energy has been one of the most important issues of this European Council held in the Belgian capital.
It was briefly discussed on Monday night, after agreeing on the general lines of the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, and it was taken up again this Tuesday throughout the day.
Spain wanted to reformulate the language of the conclusions document, the role that the ambassadors and the so-called 'sherpas' fight for weeks and that has the utmost political and often legal importance.
The one that was in the previous drafts was more generic, but in the final text, agreed by the 27, there is an express reference to Spain and Portugal.
"The European Council calls for
the completion and improvement of the interconnection of the European gas and electricity networks
by investing in and completing infrastructure for new and existing projects, including LNG and future-proof gas-to-hydrogen and electricity interconnections across the European Union, including island Member States.
And in the production of renewables, including, based on the next analysis of the regulators and the current geopolitical context, taking advantage of the potential of the Iberian Peninsula to contribute to the security of supply of the European Union", says the text. There is no promises to pay for them, but the president's team was satisfied with the inclusion, the reference and the tone of the debate just a few weeks after the European Commission presented its proposal to accelerate the energy disconnection from Russian fossil fuels.
"The position of the Government has always been the same. If we have less than 4% interconnection and we are an energy island, and if taxpayers have had to pay for decades of regasification and storage of liquefied gas... man, it's your turn for the EU to pay for these interconnections", the president pointed out.
"We have defended it and the Commission has raised it this way in its
RepowerEU
strategy and we are glad that it has been recognized that the EU has to pay for them, among other issues because they are capacities available to the EU that the Spanish have paid for", has insisted.
This European summit has been a "bridge", in the words of the socialist leader, on the way between last March, where this political recognition of "Iberian exceptionalism" was established, which, however, has not yet materialized into anything, and the June, the last one before the summer break, when we will return to this issue.
Moncloa hopes that this week, perhaps on Wednesday itself, the Commission will finally give the green light to the gas price control mechanism, but the president himself did not want to get wet in his appearance before the media.
"I want to recognize the work of the Ministries of Ecological Transition and Economy and Finance. And of Portugal. In these two months there has been very intense work with the European Commission and I hope it will be very soon, it is essential for family economies, SMEs I hope that it will be very soon that we can notify the agreement of the two countries and that the Commission validates it. We are talking about an intervention that has its complexity but I am convinced that the agreement will be soon", said the president.
Extension of decree law
In his speech at the end, Sánchez acknowledged that the Executive is open to the idea of extending the royal decree law that expires on June 30 with exceptional economic measures, pushed by the rise in prices and the pressure of electricity.
But without giving details of how he intends to do it, whether he has sufficient support or proposes alternatives.
"The Government has until June 30 as the effective date of the royal decree law in force that has tax reductions in light via taxes, aid to sectors such as transport and primary, which increases the number of households with electric social bonus, the items of minimum vital income or the 20 cent discount for gasoline or diesel. We did it with the agreement of many sectors and with a parliamentary majority. This Government is the same one that put all the measures in place to protect families, companies, and the country in times as difficult as the pandemic, and we will do everything in our power to protect the economy, industry and families. If you want a headline, we are open to extending the decree law beyond June 30," he explained.
Despite the fact that energy dependence on Russia is not high in the case of our country, the president, hardening the message heard in previous months, has indicated that it is "clear that no economy is safe from the impact of supply cuts" of Russian gas or oil, mentioning the latest forecasts of the Bank of Spain, today.
But he has reiterated that "
the cost of doing nothing would be higher",
asking the social partners to agree on the income pact with which to face the ravages of inflation.
"We put a validity every three months to the royal decree, which corresponded to see the evolution of the crisis with uncertainty and its economic and social impact, it is being done and there will be a response before the end of its validity," he promised.
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Pedro Sanchez