The Diplomat
The third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, met yesterday in Lisbon with the Minister of Energy and Climate of Portugal, Maria da Graça Carvalho, with whom she discussed strengthening cooperation on water and the adoption of a common position to demand electrical interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of the EU.
During the meeting, the two ministers discussed, among other issues, cooperation in the field of electrical interconnections and hydrogen, Portugal’s active role in the negotiations with France and cooperation in the application of the new rules of the European Market. of electricity.
In the press conference after the meeting, Ribera warned of the need for the European Commission to get more involved so that the Iberian Peninsula stops being “an island” in the European energy market, a task in which “participation and joint work” with Portugal are “key”.
“We know that mandatory minimum interconnection objectives were set years ago and there is the enormous paradox that Spain, because it is the cross-border reference that counts, but the Iberian Peninsula as a whole, is the least interconnected European space of all, is a island and that makes little sense,” she declared.
From an integrated European energy perspective, “European institutions must pay more attention” to this problem, warned Ribera, whose name is mentioned as a candidate to join the new European Commission. For this reason, “it is important that we maintain this position and that we highlight it with the greatest respect and the greatest proactive will to solve problems,” both in technical and bilateral meetings and in meetings with France or with European regulators as a whole and with the Commission.
