Spain, Portugal reject EU plan to cap natural gas use

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The European Union’s plan to reduce the bloc’s gas use by 15% to prepare for a potential cutoff by Russia this winter has been met with sharp skepticism by Spain and Portugal, two governments that are usually big supporters of the bloc.

Madrid and Lisbon on Thursday said they would not support the initiative announced by European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday. The proposal by the EU’s head office would start with voluntary reductions but it also wants the power to make 15% savings mandatory for bloc's 27 nation in the event of an EU-wide energy emergency provoked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Spain and Portugal, however, said making reductions obligatory is a non-starter. They noted that they use very little Russian gas compared to other EU nations such as Germany and Italy and that there are scant energy connections linking them to the rest of Europe.

“We will defend European values, but we won’t accept a sacrifice regarding an issue that we have not even been allowed to give our opinion on,” Spain’s Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera said.

“Not matter what happens, Spanish families won’t suffer cuts to gas or to the electricity to their homes,” she said. “(The measure) would serve for nothing if the gas that could not be used by Spanish industries could not then later be used by the homes or industries of other countries.”

Portugal’s secretary for the environment and energy, João Galamba, said the proposed measure was “unsustainable” and “disproportionate.”

“The whole logic behind rationing presupposes interlinked (European gas distribution) systems and it appears the European Commission forgot about that,” he told the Portuguese newspaper Publico.

He added that “Portugal was for years and years disadvantaged...