Energy Infrastructure: Commission, France, Portugal and Spain boost regional cooperation to break energy barriers

Building missing cross-border links between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of the EU energy market is a priority for the European Commission. Today we are setting a High Level Group to make that priority a reality. Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete said: “Energy must flow freely across Europe. This will bring benefits to European consumers, strengthen our industry’s competitiveness and set the conditions for new and much-needed jobs. It will also enable a better use access to the markets of renewable energy. The setting up of the High Level Group, which follows on the Madrid Interconnections Summit on 4 March, sets the course to achieve the integration of the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of the EU energy market. This time it’s different and we will make it happen.” The Memorandum of Understanding for the South-West Regional group creating the High Level Group was signed today in Luxembourg. This Group will prepare a plan to implement the Madrid Declaration on energy interconnections, signed on 4 March 2015 by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, President of France François Hollande, President of the Government of Spain Mariano Rajoy and the Prime Minister of Portugal, Pedro Passos Coelho. The work of this group is central to ensuring that complete the work on the missing interconnections that are needed to meet the objective of 10% electricity interconnection target by 2020 which is part and parcel of the Energy Union priority of the Juncker Commission. You will find the Energy Union and Interconnection Communication on the central website of the Commission. The full press release is available online.