The H2Med gas pipeline and the migration issue on the menu of the 9th Euromed summit

In Alicante, Emmanuel Macron must meet with the Spaniard Pedro Sanchez and the Portuguese Antonio Costa (here in Brussels in 2019) AP - Kenzo Tribouillard

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

French President Emmanuel Macron is this Friday in Alicante, Spain, on the occasion of the 9th Euromed summit which brings together nine countries from the south of the European Union. 

Advertising

Read more

Emmanuel Macron is due to meet the Spanish and Portuguese heads of government this Friday morning to advance the

project for the new H2Med gas pipeline linking Barcelona and Marseille

, launched last October.

The President of the European Commission also made the trip.

The objective of the meeting will be to convince Ursula von der Leyen of the interest of the gas pipeline intended for hydrogen to obtain financing from Brussels.

Paris does not advance figures, but the cost of the project is estimated at some 2 billion euros.

The three Heads of State and their ministers will work on the technical files: the route, the cost, but also the use of the gas pipeline.

The initial project provided that it also transport a limited proportion of natural gas.

However, European funding is conditioned by use exclusively dedicated to carbon-free hydrogen.  

►

See also: On France 24 – What is the BarMar gas pipeline which must connect Spain to France?

Another big issue on the agenda is immigration.

The summit comes after

the crisis unleashed by Rome over the fate of humanitarian ships

.

The root of the problem is not settled.

Maritime law stipulates that they must be taken care of by the authorities of the nearest coasts, but the head of the Italian government Giorgia Meloni wants to change the rules.  

Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta are around the table – ie all the countries with Spain on the Mediterranean migratory route – with the idea of ​​advancing the Asylum and Migration Pact.

The participants will try to agree on their political priorities around the eternal debate: how to articulate border management and solidarity of the Twenty-Seven?

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

  • Energies

  • Immigration

  • France

  • Spain

  • Portugal

  • Italy