Sánchez Llibre rules out that France is obstructing the construction of the MidCat

Josep Sánchez Llibre, president of Foment de Treball, assures that the French government will not be an obstacle to the construction of the MidCat gas pipeline.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
16 August 2022 Tuesday 09:46
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Sánchez Llibre rules out that France is obstructing the construction of the MidCat

Josep Sánchez Llibre, president of Foment de Treball, assures that the French government will not be an obstacle to the construction of the MidCat gas pipeline. Thus, he foresees that the project will become a reality in a matter of months, as stated by the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, last week.

"A project that seemed utopian will be a reality in the coming years or months," he detailed in statements to TVE. The president of the Catalan employers' association considers that the lack of a gas project in Europe "does not make sense" and trusts that "the common sense of diplomacy" will convince France to start up the infrastructure.

Regarding Spain, Sánchez Llibre explained that, through the gas pipeline that will connect Germany with the Iberian Peninsula, Spain and Catalonia would become European protagonists of the gas interconnection. In fact, he stated that Spain currently has the capacity to receive a large part of the gas needed by the countries of the European Union.

On the other hand, the president of Foment ruled out that financing was a significant problem, since he trusts in a public-private alliance with European funds. Nor is he concerned about the relationship with Algeria, which has already assured that it will not stop supplying gas to Spain and the European Union.

Sánchez Llibre's statements come a few days after the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, officially supported the construction of a gas pipeline linking Portugal with central Europe and crossing Spain and France. The German president insisted last week that alternatives had to be sought to avoid dependence on Russian gas and assured that he had already discussed this issue with Portugal, Spain and France, as well as with the European Commission.