EC, France, Portugal, Spain Set Up High Level Group for Regional Infrastructure

European institutions are taking their Energy Union commitments seriously, presenting a flurry of initiatives over the last days. On Monday, the European Commission, France, Portugal and Spain set up a High Level Group to promote infrastructure projects in South-West Europe. 

According to Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the four countries in Luxembourg will pave the way for increased efficiency, and competitiveness.  

“The setting up of the High Level Group, following on the historical Madrid Interconnections Summit on 4 March, is an important step in this direction as its work will be essential to achieve the integration of the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of the EU energy market” Cañete commented.  

The High Level Group will be responsible to stimulate both gas and electricity infrastructure, providing technical assistance to the Member States.

‘To support the work of this Group, the Commission has launched two studies on the benefits, costs and the technical possibilities for further electricity and gas interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe. The results of the electricity study will be presented in the autumn. The results of the gas study will be available in December 2015. 

On Friday, ACER launched a public consultation from 12 June until 10 July 2015 on the proposed methodology for monitoring the impact of the gas network codes on the internal market.