In 2013, the Midi-Catalonia gas pipeline project was launched, supposed to stretch over more than 200 kilometers to connect Hostalric, north of Barcelona, to Barbaira, a town located near Carcassonne, crossing the Pyrenees. In 2019, the site was abandoned, deemed too expensive – some 500 million euros -, “non-priority” and at odds with European ecological objectives. The war in Ukraine and the disruption of Russian gas supplies seem to be changing the situation, and Spain, which is particularly involved in the project, has high hopes of seeing it rise again from its ashes.
According to its Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, almost all the infrastructure on its side of the Pyrenees is ready, and those remaining to be built could be completed in nine months: “Generality [gouvernement autonome de Catalogne] been asking for it for months. Madrid is ready today to relaunch the work that has remained in abeyance. It’s up to France to do its part”abstract The vanguard.
Spain can count on an ally of choice. On August 11, at a press conference, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz – whose country is desperately looking for new gas suppliers – said he was in favor