Portugal blamed France for delays in electricity supplies after blackout

Portuguese authorities accuse France of insufficient electricity supplies to Spain after a massive power outage on the Iberian Peninsula in April. This was reported on May 18 by the Financial Times (FT) newspaper.

"Portugal will appeal to the European Commission with a request to put pressure on France on the issue of cross—border electricity supplies <...>, arguing that delays in establishing new electrical connection lines from France have made the Iberian Peninsula vulnerable," the article says.

Portuguese Energy Minister Maria Da Graza Carvalho told the FT that the unstable cooperation between France and Spain in the field of electricity supplies represents a "barrier to the internal market of the European Union," which means that European legislation "gives Brussels the right to interfere."

According to her, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will also be involved in this issue in order to convince that states are integrated and help each other solve problems. Maria Da Graza stressed that this is a pan-European issue, and not between three states.

The newspaper claims that Madrid has for decades accused Paris of obstructing the expansion of electricity networks between the two countries. It clarifies that the Spanish side suspected France of protecting its nuclear power plants "from the influx of cheap Spanish solar and wind energy."

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A large-scale power outage in Spain and Portugal occurred on April 28. It has affected the operation of public transport, power lines and telephone communications in parts of Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon. Power supply problems were also observed in Andorra and parts of France.

On May 2, Spain and Portugal agreed to create a special group to investigate the causes of power outages.