Ribera trusts that European funds will finance "most" of BarMar

The third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has expressed confidence that "most" of the BarMar project, the gas pipeline from Barcelona to Marseille agreed on Thursday, will be financed with European funds.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
21 October 2022 Friday 04:40
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Ribera trusts that European funds will finance "most" of BarMar

The third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has expressed confidence that "most" of the BarMar project, the gas pipeline from Barcelona to Marseille agreed on Thursday, will be financed with European funds. "It is not up to Spain to finance it exclusively," she assured.

The intention is "to be able to present the project to the call for infrastructures of community interest and for there to be European financing that covers most of it," Ribera stated in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio, this Friday. That is why he himself highlighted the "Europeanist and supportive vocation" of the new infrastructure, which will allow the diversification of the energy raw material and will have a journey through time. The forecast is to present the BarMar in December.

According to the plans unveiled this Thursday, the idea is that the infrastructure will allow the transport of natural gas temporarily and then green hydrogen. One of the doubts to be cleared up is the deadlines for the works. Ribera points out that they can last "five, six or seven years", pending a start of construction that will not be immediate because beforehand it is necessary to process environmental impact assessment permits, specify the design and layout as well as define its cost and financing. .

The BarMar stands as an "easy and fast" way in view of France's "firm" opposition to Midcat. With the French neighbors "there were no other alternatives" and the option of connecting Barcelona and Livorno (Italy) was "more extensive, complicated and expensive", he stated in another interview on Antena 3. The natural outlet for the new project is the port of Barcelona, ​​he stated, for its gas storage capacity.

Beyond the unknowns to be cleared up, the minister praised the fact that Spain is "gaining weight" on the European energy map, seeing Spanish participation as fundamental in the search for solutions to the current crisis. "It is anticipating an investment that our country would have needed and that connects us with the entire European infrastructure," she defended.

In the deployment of the work "the involvement and capacity for dialogue with the Generalitat is important". The President of the Government, Pere Aragonès, assessed this Thursday that the plan places Barcelona "on the new European energy map". "It is confirmed that it will play a relevant role in the interconnections, taking advantage of the current regasification capacity that exists in the port of Barcelona," he added.