The Government endorses "giving a margin" to comply with energy saving measures and not sanctioning "immediately"

• Royal decree The Government assumes that the CCAA will not apply sanctions for non-compliance with the energy saving decree

The royal decree of measures for energy saving enters into force this midnight and the Government endorses granting "a margin", especially to small businesses, to implement all the regulations.

Thus, the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has advocated not sanction "immediately", although she has also warned that the autonomous communities will have to be vigilant for its application.

"I don't think anyone is going to impose fines immediately. There will have to be a warning, ask why they are not being applied and, in a proportionate way, adopt measures," he said in an interview on Cadena Ser.

Among the measures that will have to be applied this Wednesday are those of temperature inside work centers and shops and that of turning off shop windows from 10:00 p.m.

Ribera has indicated that "it is not intended to penalize" at this time, but rather to "channel" the will and awareness of society in the need for these measures.

However, he has ensured that the rules must be met.

“If we see that the days go by and that is not happening or if tomorrow there is suddenly a serious problem because somewhere none of the measures is applied massively, then obviously we could immediately contact the autonomous community. We would not wait even months nor weeks", he has said in case there is a general refusal in an autonomy.

In this regard, he has warned that the Government has the option of

if there is any autonomous community that evades its obligation to enforce the rules and, therefore, there is a clash of powers.

"If, despite the warning, jurisdiction is still not exercised, a conflict may be brought before the Constitutional Court," he said.

Faced with the criticism of the PP and the appeal of unconstitutionality that the Community of Madrid will present on the royal decree, Ribera has reproached that no proposals were raised at the meeting with the Energy Ministers, held yesterday between the Executive and the autonomous communities.

And he has criticized that the only will of the PP was to "impose a withdrawal".

Something that, he remarked, is not going to happen.

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• Theresa Rivera