The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, defended this Friday that Portugal should not ration gas, as the European Union advocates, because this measure cannot help other countries.
“It cannot be that Portugal and Spain show solidarity, cooperate, sacrifice their citizens, when what they could provide gas is not used by other European countries, because there is no possibility of communication with these countries,” the Head of State said in a statement. . journalists.
The European Commission unveiled on Wednesday a European plan to cut European Union gas consumption by 15% until spring, when there are concerns about supplies from Russia, acknowledging that it will proceed with mandatory demand cuts in the face of danger.
On Thursday, the environment minister reiterated the rejection of the European Commission’s proposal and countered that Portugal believed the issue should be discussed in the European Council.
Speaking this Friday on the sidelines of an initiative in which he participated in Fafa, in the district of Braga, which marked the 48th anniversary of democracy in Portugal, the President of the Republic recalled: “The problem [do gás] It is very simple, as stated by the government. It is quite clear that we would be ready to ration gas when we have gas, if it served some interest, some European need.”
However, he continued, “Portugal and Spain have tried to protect the interconnection, that is, the diversion of gas from Portugal and Spain to France and the rest of Europe, but so far this has not been allowed.”
Marcelo recalled that there were several “vague” promises that the gas would flow from the Iberian Peninsula to other destinations, such as “a good idea, but one that needs to be built, it will be a gas pipeline that will link Spain to Italy and so on” . to other countries”.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
