Secretary of State for Environment and Energy assumed, in statements to Expresso, that Portugal is “completely against” the proposal presented on Wednesday by the European Commission. João Galamba also says that the cut of 15% in gas consumption between August 2022 and March 2023, proposed by Brussels, “was unsustainable” because it forced the country to be “without electricity.
The Portuguese position comes after Spain also refused to accept the imposition of the Community institution. “They can’t ask us for a sacrifice that we haven’t even been asked to give an opinion about,” reacted Spanish Vice President and Minister of Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera, according to El Confidencial. Ribera assured that there will be no cuts “either in electricity or gas” for families or industry and argued that Spain “has done its homework” with regard to energy transition, “paying more than the rest.
Galamba also indicates to the newspaper that Brussels has not taken into account the Iberian specificities, since drought has forced the increase of gas consumption in electricity. At the same time, the Iberian Peninsula remains an energy ‘island’ in relation to the rest of the European Union, with energy supply infrastructure very different from other states.
Member states have until the end of September to update their national emergency plans, where they must contemplate their plan to achieve the 15% reduction target, with the obligation to report to the European Commission every two months, announced the European Commission on Wednesday.
The action plan aims to reduce gas demand, but does not stop there. It is also necessary to activate solidarity between member states, von der Leyen explained. This means that member states should be prepared to share their reserves with others in the event of a severe emergency.
Good job Portugal and Spain, now next one please!
You know what, if it’s Portugal and Spains economies or the environment then sorry, you get economic crisis forever.
Question: won’t gas consumption drop by 10-20% due to the high prices? It seems silly to me to boycott this proposal.
ITT people don’t read the article. This proposal has nothing to do with helping Germany with their energy crisis. It’s about reducing Europe’s usage of russian gas, which is a great idea. However, because of that, it makes no sense for Iberia to cut gas consumption when we aren’t the ones that depend, or even use, Russian gas. Not only that we are in severe drought which means we need to use more gas to compensate for the lost in hydro energy. Everyone here that thinks we should accept the proposal when we have nothing to do with Russian gas is stupid.
Of course Brussels wants to cut gas consumption in those pesky southern european countries.
We should definitely help out Germany. But this is a country that has been living beyond its means, as far as energy is concerned. They were warned for years this was going to end badly.
It’s not fair for countries that behaved responsibly to be stuck with the bill for irresponsible nations.
As such, I propose we do help poor Germany, for solidarity, but we get paid some nice interest for the trouble. Also, since they behaved so irresponsibly, we can’t just trust them with all that gas so we should send a team of technocrats to oversee their consumptions and force the necessary changes in their society so they’ll never be able to compete…er, I mean, to behave so irresponsibly ever again. Oh, and maybe change their constitution also. You can thank us later.
And maybe find an acronym to group Germany with other countries in a similar situation, for easier mentioning. Something about a dirty animal that eats too much but it’s totally not offensive.
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Rough Translation:
Secretary of State for Environment and Energy assumed, in statements to Expresso, that Portugal is “completely against” the proposal presented on Wednesday by the European Commission. João Galamba also says that the cut of 15% in gas consumption between August 2022 and March 2023, proposed by Brussels, “was unsustainable” because it forced the country to be “without electricity.
The Portuguese position comes after Spain also refused to accept the imposition of the Community institution. “They can’t ask us for a sacrifice that we haven’t even been asked to give an opinion about,” reacted Spanish Vice President and Minister of Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera, according to El Confidencial. Ribera assured that there will be no cuts “either in electricity or gas” for families or industry and argued that Spain “has done its homework” with regard to energy transition, “paying more than the rest.
Galamba also indicates to the newspaper that Brussels has not taken into account the Iberian specificities, since drought has forced the increase of gas consumption in electricity. At the same time, the Iberian Peninsula remains an energy ‘island’ in relation to the rest of the European Union, with energy supply infrastructure very different from other states.
Member states have until the end of September to update their national emergency plans, where they must contemplate their plan to achieve the 15% reduction target, with the obligation to report to the European Commission every two months, announced the European Commission on Wednesday.
The action plan aims to reduce gas demand, but does not stop there. It is also necessary to activate solidarity between member states, von der Leyen explained. This means that member states should be prepared to share their reserves with others in the event of a severe emergency.
Good job Portugal and Spain, now next one please!
You know what, if it’s Portugal and Spains economies or the environment then sorry, you get economic crisis forever.
Question: won’t gas consumption drop by 10-20% due to the high prices? It seems silly to me to boycott this proposal.
ITT people don’t read the article. This proposal has nothing to do with helping Germany with their energy crisis. It’s about reducing Europe’s usage of russian gas, which is a great idea. However, because of that, it makes no sense for Iberia to cut gas consumption when we aren’t the ones that depend, or even use, Russian gas. Not only that we are in severe drought which means we need to use more gas to compensate for the lost in hydro energy. Everyone here that thinks we should accept the proposal when we have nothing to do with Russian gas is stupid.
Of course Brussels wants to cut gas consumption in those pesky southern european countries.
We should definitely help out Germany. But this is a country that has been living beyond its means, as far as energy is concerned. They were warned for years this was going to end badly.
It’s not fair for countries that behaved responsibly to be stuck with the bill for irresponsible nations.
As such, I propose we do help poor Germany, for solidarity, but we get paid some nice interest for the trouble. Also, since they behaved so irresponsibly, we can’t just trust them with all that gas so we should send a team of technocrats to oversee their consumptions and force the necessary changes in their society so they’ll never be able to compete…er, I mean, to behave so irresponsibly ever again. Oh, and maybe change their constitution also. You can thank us later.
And maybe find an acronym to group Germany with other countries in a similar situation, for easier mentioning. Something about a dirty animal that eats too much but it’s totally not offensive.