Portugal will organise a summit early next year dedicated to energy interconnectors, as lawmakers work to end the Iberian Peninsula’s energy market isolation.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa will host the summit in Lisbon, earmarked for February, according to a statement made at the One Planet Summit held in Paris, France, on Tuesday 12 December.
The meeting will be attended by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Costa and Rajoy told reporters in Paris this week that the main aim of the meeting would be to facilitate an exchange of ideas on how to improve energy interconnection, within the framework of the EU’s Energy Union plans.
Madrid is keen to highlight that increased and improved infrastructure between Spain, Portugal and France would ramp up energy security and allow the peninsula to better comply with EU renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction targets.
The announcement follows Spanish EU Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete’s comments on the issue, in which he insisted that “there is no justification” for the Iberian region to be isolated from the rest of the continent.
Cañete told a forum in Lisbon: “Today, despite out efforts, the Iberian Peninsula is not yet fully integrated into the international market.”
He added that Spain is one of 11 EU countries that is still “insufficiently connected” with the rest of the EU but acknowledged that “good progress” is being made on connecting the Spanish and Portuguese grids.
EU energy ministers will meet on Monday (18 December) for an end-of-year council meeting, wherein legislative packages will be discussed.
The member states will come up with their joint positions on renewable energy, governance and two electricity market laws.
