Macron adamant no need for MidCat gas pipeline

French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed he would not relaunch the MidCat gas interconnection project between France and Spain, but he hinted he could be open to persuasion. 

During a press conference at the Élysée Palace on Monday (5 September), following a discussion with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Macron clarified the joint positions of Paris and Berlin.

This project “will not solve the European gas problem. It is false, it is factually false”, but “I am willing to hear my colleagues give me other facts that would convince me otherwise”, said Macron.

This gas pipeline project, launched in 2013 under François Hollande’s presidency with the European Commission’s support, was intended to be a major energy bridge between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe. It was abandoned in 2019 by the French government following cost and impact studies.

While the project is fiercely supported by the Spanish, Portuguese and German leaders, Macron said: “there is no obvious requirement.”

France keeps blocking MidCat gas interconnection with Spain

Spain, Portugal and Germany have revived talks on the MidCat gas pipeline project linking the Iberian Peninsula with France, but Paris remains reluctant, calling the future of the project into question.

A changing context

But circumstances are different today.

The war in Ukraine has caused gas prices to soar and, in turn, electricity prices to skyrocket due to the rule of the European electricity market. The current rules mean that the cost of electricity is based on the wholesale electricity price set by the last power plant needed to meet overall demand- often gas which is currently the most expensive.

Most European leaders say they are prepared to reform this system, and the meeting of 27 European Energy Ministers on Friday (9 September) should provide some answers.

Therefore, the need for interconnection is emerging to partly mitigate the expected effects of the energy crisis. But while Macron assures that “France supports energy interconnections in Europe”, he adds that he will only support “those that are meaningful”.

When Scholz declared in mid-August that Europe was “drastically” missing the reactivation of this project, the French president recalled that “today, between France and Spain, there are two gas pipelines […] which have been used at 53% of their capacity” since February.

When the Spanish Environment Minister, Teresa Ribera, responded during the summer that the final construction work could be completed in “eight to nine months”, Emmanuel Macron retorted that “the work would not be easy, because there is a lot of opposition, especially environmental opposition”.

To the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, who recently mentioned that this project was a “priority” for the continent, the French head of state pointed out that “when [he] looks at the direction of travel, France exports gas to Spain”.

Finally, regarding the possibility of transporting hydrogen through this pipeline, “all experts tell me that it is wrong to imagine that today’s gas pipeline will transport hydrogen tomorrow”, insists the president.

French consistency

Contacted by EURACTIV France, French officials have consistently pointed to the poor cost-benefit balance of the project.

Following Ribera’s proposals to relaunch the project as soon as possible, French Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher told the Spanish media outlet Ara, that the project was not worthwhile. In addition, it would take years to become operational.

Nevertheless, when asked whether this project was “definitively shelved by France”, Macron reversed the burden of proof: the facts relating to the coherence of such a project belong to the Spanish, Portuguese and German authorities.

For the moment, the German head of state has not been able to convince his French counterpart.

Sanchez and Scholz to defend Midcat pipeline

In face of French opposition, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are set to defend their joint position favouring an increase in energy interconnections in the EU, particularly the Midcat pipeline, which if constructed, would link …

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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