The Government hopes to make the “Iberian exception” operational to lower energy prices in “3 or 4 weeks”

The third vice-president and minister for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, has indicated that they hope to make operational in “three or four weeks” the “Iberian exception” agreed this Friday by European leaders and which will allow Spain and Portugal to adopt measures to lower energy prices.

In this sense, Ribera explained that what was agreed this Friday at the European Council “it is a political orientation” and that what was introduced is “an authorization so that the Commission knows and authorizes the mechanism that Spain and Portugal must submit in principle this week”.

“The Commission will need a few days, a few weeks, to verify that everything is correct or to recommend that we introduce improvements and we calculate that in three or four weeks we will be able to have a pronouncement from the Commission on what we are proposing and make it immediately operational“, the third vice-president pointed out in an interview on the RTVE 24-hour channel, collected by Europa Press.

The Spanish minister has underlined that they are going to introduce “a gas payment system accordingly”: “You have to pay for gas in any case, but we want that price of gas not to be the price at which the rest of the electricity produced is paid, which has a cheaper price. What we will do is separate the gas from the mechanism of price formation.

In his words, the agreement this Friday in Brussels to take measures to lowering energy prices in Spain “was essentialThus, he stressed that it was “essential” that the Council “allow this to be done”, since if the European rules had not been “broken”.

Close arrival of Russian gas

In relation to the rise in gas prices and Europe’s dependence on Russian, Ribera has detailed that this rise in prices is due to the fact that the world “is demanding more gas” and the producers “did not foresee it” and the role of Russia in the war in Ukraine since it is “the main supplier” of gas to the European Union.

In this sense, the minister has predicted that the situation in Russia “will continue to be complicated” and he added that “it is not ruled out that sooner or later” the EU will have to close the arrival of Russian gas, so it is “capital” to look for other suppliers, among which he has cited Algeria, Norway, Qatar or Australia.

“Replacing a large producer in a short time costs a lot”, he admitted, adding that it is also necessary to be “intelligent” in the consumption of energy resources. “This explains why (Joe) Biden has come to Europe to offer more American gas to Europe and this explains why we have to work with other suppliers,” he specified.

In this regard, he emphasized the need to be an “autonomous” country in terms of energy supply highlighting renewable energies as a solution and the reduction of fossil energies.

At another point, asked about the guarantee that Spain will continue to receive gas from Algeria after this country’s criticism of Spain for the change in position regarding the Sahara, Ribera indicated that Algeria, in addition to being a major supplier of gas to Spain is an “allied” country with which there is a “good neighborly relationship”. “We aspire to keep it that way,” she added.