for Teresa Ribera, “Europe must take extraordinary measures”

In office since 2019, the current Spanish Minister for Energy Transition, Teresa Ribera, obtained from Brussels, in May, the recognition of “Iberian exception” and received the green light to cap gas prices for a year.

A 53-year-old senior civil servant and director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (Iddri) in Paris between 2014 and 2019, she pleads for a similar mechanism in Europe and a freeze on CO prices.₂. She also wants France to unblock the construction of a new gas pipeline linking the two countries, through the Pyrenees, the MidCat, so that it can export gas to northern Europe.

Almost a year ago, you called for the decoupling of gas and electricity prices in Europe in order to curb the escalation of energy prices. This Friday, September 9, finally, the energy ministers of the European Union (EU) are summoned to an extraordinary meeting to find solutions to the surge in bills…

Europe’s reaction is important: it is to prepare for zero supply from Russia, because it is the only way to avoid this constant blackmail.

What we have experienced throughout this year is an economic war. Energy is used by Vladimir Putin as a weapon of psychological terrorism: I loosen the screw, I cut off the gas, I resume the flows… But it is not easy to do without Russia, one of the main suppliers of gas, coal, oil, diesel and enriched uranium. Cutting yourself off from such an important player requires time and preparation, and very strong political will.

Doesn’t this meeting come late?

The Commission’s response was initially to think that the problem was temporary and that nothing should be touched, that the profits of the energy companies would be reinvested in accelerating the energy transition. And at the same time, national budgets had to assume social policies. Spain, like France, understood from the start that it was dangerous. That could last a long time. And that the decision of financial operators in the energy sector to reinvest was not automatic. We also see that state budgets alone cannot help families and the industrial fabric to get through the crisis.

Despite the decoupling of gas and electricity prices that you implemented in May, the bill continues to increase for Spanish consumers. What is the first assessment of this measure?

You have 68.4% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.