The head of the Government, Pedro Sanchezwill resume this Monday with the French president, Emmanuel Macronthe series of meetings he is holding with other European leaders on his tour to try to agree on a reform of the energy market to be approved at the next EU summit.
Sánchez, as he stated last Friday, considers that “not one more day” can pass from that summit to launch a reform that allows for lower prices of energy in the European Union.
The initial agenda of his tour did not include a stop in Paris, but finally has arranged that interview at the Elysée Palace with Macronwho also holds the six-monthly presidency of the EU.
That meeting will be at noon, and In the afternoon, Sánchez will travel to Brussels for two additional appointments to their initial displacements.
The first one will be with the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Crooand the second with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
In this way, the President of the Government will present his proposals face to face not only with other European counterparts, but also with one of the heads of the community institutions.
You can also pass on to Michel your feelings about the possibility of agreement in relation to the energy reform after the conversations that he has been holding in recent days.
Yes it was planned from the beginning a meeting on Tuesday in Dublin with the Irish Prime Minister, Micheal Martinbut because he has tested positive for coronavirus, the intention is to hold that meeting by videoconference.
A system by which government sources have reported that Sánchez plans to also get in touch with other European leaders before the EU summit which begins Thursday in Brussels.
So far, Sanchez received in Madrid the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovichas traveled to Bratislava to meet with the Slovak Prime Minister, Eduard Heger, and to Bucharest for a meeting with the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis.
And in Rome he held a four-man summit with the Prime Ministers Of Italy, mario draghi; Portugal, Antonio Costa; and Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis (this one by videoconference due to being infected by coronavirus).
It was at the end of that meeting that he assured that the EU must act now to reform the energy market, a demand it has been making since late last summer in the face of the increase in electricity prices but which he considers much more necessary after the situation generated by the war in Ukraine.
“We cannot wait beyond March 25,” he pointed out in Rome, alluding to the date on which the Brussels European Council will end, that he must address what he described as an “emergency”.
Among the proposals made by Spain to the rest of the EU partners is the one put forward together with Portugal to put a cap on electricity price 180 euros per megawatt/hour (€/MWh) in the wholesale market, 67% below the record reached on March 8.
It will be after the decisions adopted at the Brussels summit when the Council of Ministers, at its meeting on March 29, will agree on national measures to deal with the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine.
The President of the Government will resume his tour in Paris after he met his support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Saharaa decision that has provoked the rejection of Algeria, the main supplier of natural gas to Spain.