France could examine the possibility of reviving a gas pipeline project that could link Spain and Germany, said Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire on Tuesday.
Bother Germany and Spain are keen to pursue the project, which could help to bridge Central Europe’s energy gap after Russia announced cutting off gas supplies.
Le Maire on Tuesday further said Paris would examine the possibility of reviving the project if it were given more details.
The comments came following a meeting between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Berlin as they called for a new pipeline across the Pyrenees.
The project could open new energy sources to Central and Northern Europe regions, but Paris has so far been cautious about it.
“Spain and Germany are two close partners of France; if they make a proposal, we will examine it,” Le Maire said in Paris.
Earlier this month, France said the new floating Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminals in northern and eastern Europe, especially Germany, would be a quicker and cheaper option than a new pipeline.
Scholz stated that the “current crisis” had made obvious the importance of bolstering European cooperation on energy.
Meanwhile, Sanchez told a joint news conference that Spain and Portugal — which could also be connected through the grid — were “ready to do everything possible to help the countries that currently suffer the most from dependence on Russian gas and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s energy blackmail.”
Madrid has long been pushing to revive this pipeline project, but it has also said repeatedly that the project is of European importance and that it should be funded by Brussels.
In recent weeks, Spain and Germany’s stance has become more closer, with Scholz stating that a pipeline running through Portugal, Spain, and France to Central Europe was “conspicuously absent.”
Previously, Russia has supplied about 40 percent of Europe’s natural gas, mostly by pipeline. However, since the outbreak of Russian war in Ukraine, Moscow has cut flows to Germany, and completely slashed supply to several European countries such as Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Poland.
Both Spain and Portugal have a large capacity to import gas through a total of seven LNG terminals, and through two pipelines to gas supplier Algeria.
A gas link to France could make those energy sources available to Germany and other countries in Central Europe.
The Midcat gas pipeline could serve that purpose as it already runs part of the way from Barcelona to a connecting point with the French gas grid in southern France. However, the project was terminated in 2019, having been deemed unprofitable by French regulators.
At present, there are only two smaller gas pipelines running from Spain into France, yet they both have limited capacity.
However, France — which depends heavily on nuclear power for its electricity generation — has been cautious about reviving the project, saying the link would also take too long to complete to respond to the current crisis.
Spanish Energy and Environment Minister Teresa Ribera on Monday slammed France for its apparent reluctance to support the project.
“It’s not a bilateral issue between Spain and France,” Ribera said in an interview published in Spanish daily El Mundo.
“It’s about the European project. I wonder where is France’s European ideal.” she added.
