Gamarra questions the Iberian exception and insists that there is no resolution from the European Commission to extend it to more countries
MADRID, 21 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The PP has requested this Friday that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, the Third Vice President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, and the President of Enagás, Antonio Llardén, report to Congress on the new energy corridor green between Barcelona and Marseille (BarMar).
This was announced by the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, at a press conference in Congress called to present the entire amendment to the General State Budgets (PGE) for being “absolutely unrealistic” and “electoral”, “forgetting “in addition to the measured classes.
The President of the Government announced this Thursday in Brussels – where the European Council is being held – an agreement with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the Portuguese, Antonio Costa, to set aside the MidCat gas pipeline project and develop a ” new energy corridor” to interconnect the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of the European Union through a pipeline linking Barcelona with Marseille.
Regarding this announcement regarding the gas pipeline, Gamarra has affirmed that the PP has requested the appearance of Vice President Ribera and the President of Enagás, Antonio Llardén, so that they report on this matter in Parliament.
In addition, the leader of the PP has indicated that the Popular Group is also going to request the appearance of Pedro Sánchez so that he “reports the results of the European Council” that is being held in Brussels.
Sources from the PP leadership consulted by Europa Press criticize that the chief executive “sells this new corridor as a success” when it is a different project, which implies starting from scratch and will take longer. “This new project is not even started”, they have highlighted.
According to sources from the Feijóo team, this new corridor is the “last turn of sanchismo”, which first reneged on Midcat, assuring that it was a “ruinous” project and then enthusiastically supported it in recent months as a result of the energy crisis due to the Ukraine war. “He wanted the Midcat and he has not achieved it”, they have highlighted.
In addition, Gamarra has questioned the so-called ‘Iberian exception’, as the leader of his party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, did this Thursday in Brussels. “It is coming out very expensive for us Spaniards. We are talking about nearly a billion subsidies from the pockets of the Spaniards to the pockets of the French”, he declared.
Thus, the general secretary of the PP has insisted that the ‘Iberian exception’ “is not a good deal for Spanish” citizens, who see “how on their bill they are paying what is called the ‘Iberian exception’ and that serves to pay the invoices and the neighbors of another country”.
When asked expressly why Feijóo denied that the EU was considering extending the Iberian exception when Von der Leyen had said that it should be considered another, Gamarra indicated that the European Council “has not yet picked it up like this”. “Therefore, if the European Council has not approved or collected it, then it is not part of the resolutions of the European Council”, she has highlighted.
Feijóo expressed himself in similar terms this Thursday in Brussels when he said that for now he has not seen “any declaration” in Europe in favor of its expansion to the entire European Union. The package of urgent measures detailed by Von der Leyen does not currently include a precise proposal to extend to the rest of the European Union the so-called “Iberian exception” that allows Spain and Portugal to temporarily limit the price of gas used to generate electricity, but Brussels believes that “it is worth being considered”.
Also questioned about how the PP values ??the resignation of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss, when the left attacks the PP with the statement that the tax reduction policies do not work, Gamarra has avoided entering into evaluations.
“It is a matter of another country and, therefore, we respect it,” Gamarra limited herself to assuring when asked about this issue, one day after Truss’s resignation was known, 45 days after taking office.
