Sánchez assures that he "would love" to travel to Algeria after receiving "full support" from Germany for the gas interconnection

• Senate Sánchez agrees to a face-to-face meeting with Feijóo on energy saving and the PP demands a general debate

• Interview Teresa Ribera: "I don't know where France's pro-European sense is if it refuses to help Germany"

Pedro Sánchez received today in

the "full support" of Olaf Scholz for the plan to build a gas pipeline and take gas from the peninsula to the heart of Europe and in this context, he has admitted that he would "love" to be able to travel to Algeria in a moment in which the diplomatic crisis caused by his decision to support the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara is still open.

The German chancellor has explicitly given his support to the creation of the great European electricity and gas network that Spain wants to help build by improving connections between the Iberian Peninsula and northern Europe.

In his meeting this Tuesday with President Pedro Sánchez at the Messeberg castle, some 70 kilometers from Berlin, Scholz stated that the improvement of interconnections in Europe will provide stability and that also applies to green hydrogen, of which Spain and Portugal have surplus.

The "security of supplies is part of national, German and European security," Scholz said in an appearance with Sánchez, who was invited to participate in the start of the extraordinary two-day German Council of Ministers held in Meseberg.

The German Executive is already working on a national security strategy, which contemplates the possibility of turning Spain into a transit country for gas from North Africa to North Europe.

Scholz has already publicly supported the MidCat pipeline.

Sánchez recalled that the project to extend the Iberian network beyond the Pyrenees is part of an old unfulfilled commitment to the European Union, although he avoided directly blaming France "for the bottleneck" that prevents Germany and other EU countries from having difficulties to free itself now from President Vladimir Putin's energy blackmail.

"There are two ways to expand the interconnections from Spain and Portugal to the rest of Europe. One is through France and the other via Italy," declared the president, without forgetting that Spain also has 30% of the regasification capacity of the entire Europe that cannot be shared either.

Whether via France or through Italy, the origin of the energy that would make Spain a key country for energy supply in the European Union would start in North Africa and more specifically in Algeria, Spain's leading supplier of natural gas. that due to Sánchez's policy regarding Western Sahara, he has turned towards Italy.

The reference to the class role of Algeria in the supply of gas from southern to northern Europe was brief but striking in the appearance of Scholz and Sánchez before the press.

When asked by an informant if they both planned to travel to that country, Sánchez replied: "I would love to be the one to go to Algeria."

Between Sánchez and Scholz, who will see each other again on October 5 and 6 on the occasion of the Spanish-German summit that Madrid will host, everything has been in tune.

The willingness of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to intervene in the electricity market and address its reform to deal with Russian energy "blackmail", has brought the positions between Madrid and Berlin even closer on energy security issues.

Also in relation to the reforms of the European Union, on which Scholz pronounced in Prague on Monday, a speech that Sánchez praised because it coincides with the Spanish demands.

One of them is the change in decision-making, which would go from the current unanimity to the majority.

Sánchez's meeting with the members of the German Executive takes place at a time of tensions between the parties that make it up, hence the two-day retreat at the Mesebeg castle, in the state of Brandenburg.

In recent days, the representatives of the tripartite have publicly attacked each other, because in view of the sharp increase in energy prices in connection with the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the coalition is under enormous pressure to act.

Inflation rates of around 10% percent threaten in the fall, and the economy is likely to slip into recession due to the ongoing energy crisis.

Only one in three Germans is satisfied with the work of the government and the only minister of the Executive who had more popular support, that of the Economy, has just made the first big mistake.

Robert Habeck of the Greens calls for a gas tax to prevent the collapse of struggling natural gas importers but at the expense of all gas customers, who will have to pay an extra 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour to from October.

Habeck has announced that he intends to fix the design flaw, but the political damage is there.

The leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Lars Klingbeil, recently accused Habeck of "technical errors" and said that, in the end, "not only pretty words" count in politics.

The Liberal Party and third coalition partner (FDP) has also asked Habeck for changes to the levy, a demand the Greens see as an attack.

The leader of the Green parliamentary group, Konstantin von Notz, wrote on Twitter that the chancellor's "poor performance, his dismal poll numbers", memory gaps in the cum-ex financial scandal and his responsibility for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline may be the causes of "disloyal behavior and resentment in the coalition".

The gas tax is by far not the only issue of contention in the coalition.

The Liberals, supported by the Conservative opposition, are pushing to prolong the life of the three nuclear power plants ahead of their final closure at the end of the year. The Greens and the SPD are opposed, although the Finance Minister has commissioned a "stress test" for the electricity market.

There is also resentment in the coalition over the Liberals' refusal to set a speed limit on motorways or a reform of company car taxation despite the energy and climate crisis.

Chancellor Scholz, on the other hand, is being heavily criticized by his coalition partners for not making enough progress on military aid to Ukraine.

The coalition has launched two consumer relief packages.

The third is expected this week, but here too there are differences.

The finance minister, the liberal Christian Lindner, wants to change the tax rate and fully comply with the debt brake rules again in 2023. The SPD parliamentary group proposes to set a ceiling on the price of electricity and gas for basic needs, something the Greens also support, and direct payments for low-income families, pensioners and students.

The Greens are demanding measures to prevent gas and electricity cut-offs for non-payment and six months of protection for tenants who cannot pay their additional costs.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• Pedro Sanchez

• Olaf Scholz

• Gas

• Germany

• War Ukraine Russia

• Algeria