Speech by President of the Government at event to inaugurate France-Spain high-voltage interconnection line between Baixas and Santa Llogaia

Montesquieu-des-Albères (Francia)

Mr Prime Minister of the French Republic, my friend Manuel Valls; Mr European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias; ministers; President Monti; Messrs. Chairmen of Red Eléctrica and RTE; ambassadors; public officials; ladies and gentlemen,

Today we officially open the high-voltage line between Baixas and Santa Llogaia, a highly significant electricity interconnection between Spain and France, and between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe. As has been mentioned here, this is an exceptional feat of engineering, one of the outstanding projects in the world of its type and a model of infrastructure that combines great progress in fundamental aims for shared economic progress and strict respect for the environment.

However, it is also a model of cooperation between Spain and France, two great nations in the European Union - a joint venture between companies that operate the high voltage grid in our two countries and European institutions.

This project, which was declared of EU interest, represents a major step forward in attaining the target of Energy Union, in other words, the creation of a genuine internal energy market that guarantees the security of supply under conditions of efficiency and social and environmental sustainability; a project of key importance for the future of Europe.

For that reason, I firstly want to thank the Government of the French Republic and its Prime Minister, my friend Manuel Valls, for this example of cooperation between our two governments. To paraphrase an eminent Catalan, the Marques of Castelldosríus, we can today say that "the Pyrenees no longer exist" in terms of driving the prosperity of France and Spain.

I will later have the pleasure of accompanying Prime Minister Valls to Peralada in Girona, where we will hold a work meeting to make further progress on this common project and tackle other bilateral and European issues.

I would like to congratulate and thank the French and Spanish operators RTE and Red Eléctrica, who have joined forces and shown their technical capacity in a joint venture - INELFE - to make carrying out this project possible.

Finally, I also want to thank the European Investment Bank for its participation in financing this project, and the European Commission, represented here today by the Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I believe that this project is an example of what we can and should do; an example of a project that perfectly defines what could be financed under the European Commission's new investment initiative to foster growth, the so-called "Juncker Investment Plan"; in other words, a productive, strategic, and competitive investment of European interest, under a public-private partnership, that increases the growth potential of our economies and is beneficial for our societies.

Next week I will be in Madrid with Mr Katainen, the Vice-President of the Commission, who will oversee this plan, and in a few weeks we will also hold an Interconnection Summit in Madrid. Our aim is to once again turn words into action, as we are doing here today in Languedoc-Roussillon and in Catalonia. After many years of setting targets and good intentions, we have finally gone from inspiration to implementation.

As we were reminded of earlier, some years ago we set an interconnection target of 10% of installed power here in Barcelona. Since then, we have talked a lot, we have made some progress, but it has been slow. But today we have taken a major step forward which, as you are all aware and has already been mentioned here, will allow us to double our electricity interconnection capacity with France.

However, there is still a long way to go. For that reason, we are going to try to outline, between us all, a plan of specific projects, with European financing, to turn this into a reality.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Energy interconnections are very important. They are so for our companies, because they allow them access to a resource that is key to their competitiveness at a better and more foreseeable cost. They are just so for the environment, because without them it is impossible to develop renewable energies. They are so for the security of our continent because they facilitate the diversification of sources and reduce the dependency of supply on unstable regions of the world. But they are additionally so, and above all, for our citizens, who are our prime concern and the main beneficiaries of this interconnection. As a result of this great project, energy will reach our homes at a lower price and, consequently, this improves the well-being of everyone.

Ladies and gentlemen,

There are few infrastructures that better symbolise the European integration project than interconnections, whether they are energy or transport interconnections, and few that better represent the European ideal of pulling down artificial or natural borders instead of erecting them, of aggregating instead of segregating, of uniting instead of disuniting, or cooperating instead of confronting, of connecting instead of disconnecting.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. And thank you, Madam Mayor, before I forget, for accompanying us here today.

Thank you all very much.