The Diplomat
The First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, addressed yesterday before the EU ambassadors accredited in Madrid the impact of the war in Ukraine on energy supply, a day after European leaders urged to complete the interconnections and to take advantage of “the potential of the Iberian Peninsula” in this area.
The Vice-President took part yesterday in a meeting with the ambassadors of the European Union states accredited in Spain, organised by the French Embassy, at the residence of the French ambassador, Jean-Michel Casa, in Madrid within the framework of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
During his speech at the event, the ambassador recalled “Russia’s unacceptable acts” in Ukraine, against which the Europeans have “formed a common front”, adopting sanctions and providing humanitarian protection and economic support, the Embassy said in a press release.
Likewise, Jean-Michel Casa warned that “the war has reinforced the dynamics of rising energy and food prices, and has highlighted the dependence of our Union”, a situation in which Europe must “act urgently to ensure its energy supply”.
Therefore, he said, “we must rethink the European economic model to provide it with more solid and resilient bases”, because “Europe must not continue to depend on other countries to make its economic decisions, whether in its energy, industrial, food or technological aspects”. Europe must continue to act united because “our cohesion, which is no more and no less the basis of the European project, is our main asset to face the crisis we are going through now, but also for the challenges we will undoubtedly have to face in the future”, he added.
For her part, Calviño stressed that “Europe is once again facing a challenge of significant dimensions and is responding with unity, determination and solidarity, the principles that guided us during the pandemic and must continue to guide us.” “Thanks to the European response to the pandemic, we have been able to protect businesses, jobs, family incomes, which allows us to have a solid foundation for recovery,” he added.
The meeting came just after the extraordinary European Council, held on May 30 and 31 in Brussels, called for “completing and improving the interconnection of European gas and electricity networks” in order to reduce Russian energy dependence and to take advantage of “the potential of the Iberian peninsula to contribute to the security of supply of the European Union”. Spain and Portugal have repeatedly insisted that the Iberian energy hub can be an alternative to energy dependence on Russia because the two countries have ten regasification plants, representing more than half of Europe’s regasification capacity. However, they also warned that for this to be possible, it is necessary to complete the energy interconnections between Spain and France.
Yesterday’s meeting was the sixth of its kind organized by the French Embassy in Spain within the framework of the European Presidency, which began on January 1 and will end on June 30. The European ambassadors have already met on five other occasions with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares; the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska; the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles; the Third Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera; and the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá.
