The European Commission has today washed its hands of the fate of Midcat, the gas pipeline project that would link Spain with Central Europe, which French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday rejected in band to promote. As long as there is no agreement between the affected countries, Brussels will not rule on its interest or usefulness in the current context of the energy crisis. "We cannot express a position on a specific project. The only thing I can say is that any additional cross-border infrastructure project connecting the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of Europe must be analyzed by the Member States involved and the promoter" and that they "advance [in the discussions] about the feasibility of the project," Tim McPhie, spokesman for Community Executive Energy said today.
Although in recent weeks, as a result of the renewed interest of the Government of Spain in carrying out Midcat and the support received from the German Foreign Ministry, the European Commission had been more receptive, the lack of French interest has led the institution to his traditional agnosticism regarding the project. The Midcat, McPhie has recalled, was no longer included in the fourth list of European projects of common interest given that Spain and France left it "on pause". Meanwhile, the rules on the financing of trans-European energy networks no longer provide for supporting projects based on fossil fuels, but rather those based on hydrogen.
The possibility that Midcat could also transport green hydrogen aroused the interest of Brussels and opened the door for it to receive community funding. In fact, the RePowerEu plan promoted by Ursula von der Leyen's team plans to promote hydrogen interconnections with the Iberian Peninsula. The European Commission has not ruled out this possibility, but in view of the categorical French rejection of the project, it has avoided commenting on its relevance in the current context. In general terms, the institution has recognized that any new investment that connects the liquefied natural gas terminals of the Iberian Peninsula with the European gas network through infrastructures "prepared for hydrogen" could "contribute to further diversifying the supply of gas in the market internal" and "help in the future potential of green hydrogen" of Spain and Portugal and North Africa.
French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that he does not understand "the short-term problem that is being solved" with the construction of the MidCat and argued that the pipes that currently link the two countries through the Basque Country and Navarra are "underused" because since February are being used at 53 percent. Thus, Brussels has recalled that the project "is not at the point where (the European Commission) can assess whether it can receive funds."
