Although on Tuesday, the French Economy Minister, Bruno Le Maire, opened the door to study the Midcat gas pipeline project to connect Spain with France, the Ministry of Energy Transition has reaffirmed its opposition to the project. His arguments are that it would cost billions and that it would take years to be operational, which rules it out to face the current crisis, according to sources close to the Ministry of Energy Transition.
Bruno Le Maire justified a change in French attitude by the interest shown by two allies, such as Germany and Spain, and at the highest level. Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz and President Pedro Sánchez had stated it. However, the Ministry of Energy Transition ratifies a refusal that it had previously forcefully expressed.
The French thesis is that increasing the interconnection capacity between Spain and Germany through France would require a considerable strengthening of the French network, “which in any case would take several years and would cost several billion euros. For this reason, it is not a response to the current energy crisis”, affirm these sources.
In addition, they add that an infrastructure of this type is not adapted to the European strategy to combat climate change. It is a permanent and long-term facility to transport gas, when the objective is to progressively eliminate dependence on fossil fuels, including gas.
The French also go ahead to respond to another argument in favor of this connection, its possible future use to transport green hydrogen. They say that building hydrogen transport infrastructure is a long-term European issue and "has nothing to do with our security of supply for the next two years."
