Novak said the EU's energy policy was short-sighted due to the blackout in Europe

Europe's short-sighted energy policy has led to massive power outages that have recently occurred in Spain and Portugal. This was stated on June 19 by Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Novak during a speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2025).

"We recently saw how the events of the big blackout took place in Portugal and Spain. Rolling blackouts had previously been seen in some regions. But this, by the way, is largely due to the fact that [they] have a short—sighted energy policy," he said.

Large-scale power and communication outages occurred in Spain and Portugal on April 28. This affected major cities, including Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid, La Coruna and Seville, and serious disruptions also occurred at Madrid—Barajas International Airport.

The Kingdom has closed down: what is happening in Spain after the blackout

The damage to the country's economy could exceed 1 billion euros

On April 28, Candidate of Economic Sciences Andrei Barkhota, in an interview with Izvestia, said that the losses of countries where a large-scale power outage occurred could be estimated from €600 million to €1.2 billion. According to the expert, the incident could have been a "serious economic blow."