The French Government reaffirms its ‘no’ to resume the Spanish-French Midcat gas pipeline project, through the Catalan Pyrenees, to bring gas from the Iberian Peninsula to central Europe has lasted very little. “Increase the interconnection capacity between Spain and Germany through France would require a substantial reinforcement of the French network, which in any case would take several years and cost several billion euros. Therefore, it is not a response to the current energy crisis”, sources close to the Ministry of Energy Transition this Thursday.
Statements by the French Minister of the Economy, Bruno LeMaire, this Tuesday, in which he showed his government’s willingness to “examine” the possibility of resuming the Midcat gas pipeline project had given rise to optimism in Spain and Germany. This very morning, President Pedro Sánchez and Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz had met near Berlin to, among other things, put pressure on France in favor of the gas interconnection. And Le Maire responded hours later in a complacent manner, taking advantage of statements made to the media: “From the moment the President of the Spanish Government and the German Chancellor request it, from the moment friends request it, we examine the demand of our friends, our partners“, he pointed out on Tuesday afternoon. “Spain and Germany are very close partners of France, so that when they make a proposal we examine it,” he added.
Such opening shows were hailed as “a very important step” in Spain. “There has been a movement in the right direction that shows the will of the Government of France to give a European response” to the energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he assessed the third vice president, Teresa Riberafollowing the words of the French minister.
But the satisfaction has lasted very little. In statements to EL PERIÓDICO, sources close to the Ministry of Energy Transition have clarified their point of view: “The construction of this permanent and long-term infrastructure, when we want to accelerate the exit of fossil fuels and, in particular, of natural gas, in line with the European strategy, Is not suitable“, they affirm.
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These sources defend that “the French authorities fully and unreservedly guarantee energy solidarity that is at the heart of the European project” and, as proof of this, they remember the intensive use of their interconnections with Belgium and with Switzerland and Italy to supply central and eastern Europe, including Germany. According to data from the Department of Energy Transition, these gas pipelines are at 87% and 97% of their capacity, respectively. In the case of Spain, however, the two existing gas pipelines through the western part of the Pyrenees are not saturated: “In August they were at 60% of their capacity, in the sense of exports from France to Spain”, these sources reveal to show that there is still a high potential for gas interconnection in the opposite direction, from Spain to France.
The Spanish Government must now examine the scope of the French approaches before deciding to concentrate a greater boost on ‘plan B’ to deliver a greater volume of gas from the Iberian Peninsula to central Europe, through the project of an underwater gas pipeline between Barcelona and Livorno (Italy), much later in its design and more expensive than the Midcat.