The French Economy Minister, Bruno LeMairehas insisted this Saturday on the low utility of the project MidCat, the gas pipeline to carry gas from the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of Europe to solve Russia’s blackmail. Sources from the Department of Energy Transition had already dampened the hopes of the Spanish Government last Thursday, despite the fact that days before Le Maire himself had been willing to “examine” the request from Spain and Germany to finish the work to connect the peninsula with the neighboring country.
“I’m not sure that a new pipeline is going to get us through next winter,” Le Maire said during an economic forum in the Italian town of Cernobbioaccording to statements collected by the economic daily ‘Il Sole 24 Ore’.
The French minister has recognized the need to seek new markets for fossil fuels outside of Russia in the short term and without “overheating” the economies or putting too much pressure on families, mainly in terms of prices.
In the long term, do you think “electricity and hydrogen are more promising than a new gas transmission line”, alluding to the possible trans-Pyrenean connection. Likewise, he pointed out that investing in a gas pipeline could generate “negative opinions” among those who defend concentrating financing on projects that favor the transition towards cleaner energies.
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The MidCat project has been paralyzed for years due to its high costs and the hitherto low price of the Russian supply. 226 kilometers of pipes remain to be built from the Catalan town of Hostalric even the French Barbaira and Spain request that the EU bear the costs.
This week, at the end of a joint meeting, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, again advocated for the project.