The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that Spain, Portugal and France have reached an agreement on energy interconnections, with the connection by sea from Barcelona to Marseille.

"I thank António Costa and Emmanuel Macron. We reached an agreement to speed up the interconnection process", said Pedro Sánchez.

According to the Spanish prime minister, the three countries "have reached an agreement to replace midcat with a new project, called the greenway corridor, a gas pipeline between Barcelona and Marseille".

Portugal and Spain have long pressured France to honour their commitments, assumed in particular at an interconnections summit held in Lisbon in 2018 - already with Macron, and, previously, at a summit in Madrid in 2015.

At the end of the meeting, the Portuguese prime minister praised the agreement with the French and Spanish presidents, which "allowed the overcoming of a historic blockade" of the energy interconnections of the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of Europe. António Costa added that the agreement also made it possible to complete the interconnection of the Portuguese and Spanish networks, between Celorico da Beira and Zamora.

"This is good news. One of the oldest blockades in Europe has been overcome. It is a good contribution that Portugal, Spain and France make to Europe as a whole, showing how it is possible to overcome blockades to help the spirit of common solidarity", highlighted António Costa.

Asked about the cost of the project, the Portuguese leader highlighted that, for the Portuguese side, which concerns the 160 kilometres of connection between Celorico da Beira and Zamora, the cost will remain in relation to the old project.