Germany and Spain Double Down on Gas Pipeline Connection

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez held a meeting yesterday, in which they plan to double down on efforts to build a gas pipeline between each of the countries – despite French opposition.

• The action plan published by the countries would "continue to lobby for a higher interconnection capacity of the Iberian Peninsula in order to enhance its contribution to the security of supply to the whole of EU".
• "The construction of a sufficiently big hydrogen-ready gas pipeline across the Pyrenees to be operative by 2025 is of paramount importance in order to achieve a truly robust internal energy market within the EU, accelerate the green transition and reinforce EU's strategic autonomy." It added.
• Scholz said in a press conference yesterday that he did not have the impression France had ruled out the pipeline, saying that "Some connections are maybe not economic every day, but they can become it," in response to French officials saying it did not make financial sense.