The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has announced that he will promote the construction of a gas pipeline that will increase supply from Portugal to Spain to central Europe, at a time when the continent is looking for new sources of energy with which to counteract dependence From Russia. Scholz explained that, if the connections with the Iberian Peninsula had been strengthened earlier, it would have been "a massive contribution to alleviate and lighten the situation" of the gas supply, which Germany has basically received from Russia in recent years.
For this reason, the German leader has firmly defended in a press conference addressing a project that will deal with other leaders of Spain, Portugal and France and that he also plans to expose before the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen. The project, MidCat, has been paralyzed for years due to its high costs and the low price of the Russian supply. There are still 226 kilometers of pipes to be built from the Catalan town of Hostalric to the French town of Barbaira, and Spain is asking the EU to cover the costs.
Currently, only two gas pipelines pass from Spanish soil to the other side of the Pyrenees and add up to a capacity of barely 8,000 million cubic meters per year, when 'Nord Stream 2', the failed project proposed to export gas from Russia to Germany, may take about 55,000 million cubic meters.
On the other hand, Scholz has announced that Germany will continue to increase its aid to Ukraine. Thus, he has anticipated the shipment of more weapons "in the near future", to the extent that he considers that "far-reaching decisions to support Ukraine in its struggle for independence" continue to be necessary. "We support Ukraine financially and we have prepared for the fact that what is related to this war affects the whole world, but of course also Europe and our country," he said.
The Government of Pedro Sánchez has welcomed Scholz's statements. Executive sources have said that the integration of European energy policies has great advantages for all and requires greater and better coordination of the infrastructures of the different countries. "Spain has always shown its availability and demanded greater interconnection and this crisis shows the advantages of greater European integration," the sources added.
The Midcat is strategic. For this reason, the central government does not hesitate to value the Foreign Minister's message very positively. "It is vital that interconnections do not remain a bilateral issue and a greater involvement of the Commission and the Council will help speed up investments and meet the interconnection objectives for 2020 (10%) and 2030 (15%)", they concluded. the sources.
