The Government, which has not managed to stop the strike of the carriers, will contact all the groups again this weekend
Pedro Sánchez saved this Friday, by the hair, an important match ball. After a long and tense meeting, the European Council agreed to give “special treatment” to Spain and Portugal so that they can decouple the price of gas from that of electricity on their own and thus stop the rise in prices that threatens economic recovery . It was not the first bet of the Prime Minister. Spain advocated a reform of the energy market at Community level. But, given the resistance of countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, in recent days he had focused on the specific alternative for the Iberian Peninsula. “I think we can leave this meeting satisfied,” he proclaimed after the summit.
The relief provided by this achievement, on which the Government will now pivot the national response plan to the consequences of the war in Ukraine, was, however, clouded by the result of another meeting: the one held by the Minister of Transport , Raquel Sánchez, with the representatives of the platform calling for the carrier strike, after having closed an agreement on Thursday with the National Committee for Road Transport. The protests, which have been going on for thirteen days and have compromised the operation of companies from different sectors, will continue.
In the Executive this Friday, in any case, a clear contentment was felt. “Starting today -summarized Sánchez in a joint appearance with the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa- we will be able to implement special measures, limited in time, to be able to reduce the price of electricity for consumers, industries and companies”.
Getting the specificities of Spain and Portugal to be recognized was not, according to what they say in Moncloa, easy. forced a break to “air” and reduce the tension of the meeting. His main argument was that the Peninsula is an “energy island” that for years has been penalized for its minimal interconnection with the rest of Europe (barely 3%) and that now it should be compensated. He ended up sinking.
The European agreement was always the main card of the chief executive. Despite all the pressure, from its coalition partners, the opposition, parliamentary allies or the CEOE; with the streets taken over last Sunday by tens of thousands of farmers, the strike of carriers, the mooring of fishing fleets… it resisted, until two days ago, taking other measures to cushion the impact of the rise in prices of the energy waiting for the go-ahead to be given to what he considered to be the only really effective measure against the problem.
decree against the clock
Now, the Executive will have to work against the clock to be able to approve in the Council of Ministers next Tuesday, as Sánchez himself promised, the royal decree law in which the decoupling plan is specified, which will include compensation to cycle companies combined by the difference between the reference price established for gas and the market price; and measures will be collected both for the economic sectors especially affected by high energy prices and for all citizens. It is also not an easy task. Above all, if the Government really intends, as it has proclaimed in recent weeks, to reach a “great country agreement” in which all parliamentary forces, social agents, autonomous communities and city councils participate.
The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, intends to maintain telephone contacts in the next few hours with all the political forces with which he has already met in the last ten days to sound out proposals. But, beyond the complexity of uniting positions as disparate as those of the PP and Esquerra Republicana, which advocates, for example, to regain public control of hydroelectric power plants, tensions also arise within the Council of Ministers.
The positions of the vice presidents Nadia Calviño and Yolanda Díaz have already been made, not in vain, evident. The Minister of Labor wants to once again prohibit dismissals for objective reasons, such as during the pandemic. The Economy rejects it.
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