The Government backs down and summons the regional councilors for a high-level meeting on the energy saving plan

for this Monday

to analyze, together with the highest regional authorities in the areas of Energy, Industry and Commerce, the details of the royal decree-law on energy sustainability, saving and efficiency measures to reduce dependency of natural gas in the context of the war in Ukraine approved on Monday by the Council of Ministers.

The Executive thus retreats after the criticism received by regional leaders due to the lack of consensus in the preparation of the plan, among them, those of the president of the Community of Madrid, who demanded a "highest level" appointment as it will finally be.

The highest regional representatives in matters of Energy, Tourism and Trade, as well as the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), have been summoned to the meeting, which will be held electronically, the Ministry for Ecological Transition has reported.

The meeting will be chaired by the Vice President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge,

, together with the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, and the Secretary of State for Energy, Sara Aagesen.

The Ministry of Ecological Transition has explained that the objective of the meeting is "to align the energy saving and efficiency policies of all administrations and reaffirm the commitment to save 7% of the energy consumption acquired by Spain before the EU to face the socioeconomic consequences of the conflict in Ukraine".

In the same way, the meeting will serve to resolve doubts about the scope and application of the provisions contained in the royal decree, which will come into force at 00:00 on Wednesday, August 10.

The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, asked the Government this Saturday to meet with the regional councilors to address the energy saving plan, in a meeting of a higher level than the "technical" one convened for Tuesday by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.

"After the chaos caused and the level of insults from the Government, now they rectify... They improvise a technical meeting, without an agenda, when the problem they have created is of the first political level," the Madrid president wrote on her Twitter account in response to that call.

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