The executive works against the clock to resolve the technical issues that Brussels still raises and to draw up “parallel laws” with Lisbon

The government promises to approve this Friday council of ministers The mechanism to intervene in the price of gas and bring down the domestic electricity bill by about 30% is extraordinary. Having received preliminary approval from the European Commission, the executive now blames coordination with Portugal The new delay, although the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costayesterday announced that the neighboring country would approve it today.

“We are working closely with them, we have the entire mechanism defined. We have adjusted various adjustments with the requests of the Commission and we are waiting for the decisions of both the governments to be approved and approved in parallel. are”, Government Spokesperson, Elizabeth Rodriguez, At the press conference after the Council of Ministers this Tuesday.

Approval of this “immediate” mechanism, according to the government to reduce electricity prices, will come if it eventually takes place on Friday. 49 days later that Pedro Sánchez and the Portuguese prime minister, Antonio Costa, claimed to have reached a great political settlement in Brussels to be able to take their own measures, pointing to the Iberian exceptionalism of the “energy island”.

Meanwhile, several technical scuffles took place between the two countries and the European Commission itself, which has led to significant changes in the drafting of the first draft. Electric companies have leveled hard against the measure directly in Brussels and have garnered the support of banks and financial market operators because of the effect the intervention will have on the market.

Although Spain has indirectly pointed to coordination with Portugal as the reason for the delay, the fact is that Costa announced yesterday that his cabinet would hold an extraordinary meeting this Tuesday to give the green light to the measure. . However, this announcement came hours before the European Commission reminded itself, as published by EL Mundo in its digital edition, that this was a preliminary approval that still needed to address some technical issues.

These leaks of information and inconsistently made announcements have further opened up an already existing technical gap between the two countries due to the drafting of the standard. Teresa Ribera, Vice President of Ecological Transition, has asked her colleagues to keep the conversation extremely confidential given the persistent delays in talks leading to leaking of documentation. The truth is that Brussels still sees unresolved “technical issues” that mainly affect the Spanish part of the plan and which have to do with the “overlapping” of cuts to power companies and the impact of coal subsidies on the electricity market. .