Thunderbolt in Madrid! The Spanish deputies on Tuesday rejected the Emergency Plan of the Government of Pedro Sánchez intended to avoid a new electric mega-panne like that which had plunged the Iberian peninsula in the dark on April 28. A major political setback for the leftist executive, taken between the fierce opposition of the People’s Party (PP) and the rejection of the parties of the extremes.
Adopted in the Council of Ministers on June 24, the decree-law intended to strengthen the resilience of the national electrical network in the face of systemic failures revealed by the April failure, which had left Spain (and part of Portugal) without electricity for almost ten hours. But this text only collected 165 favorable votes against 183 votes unfavorable to the Congress of Deputies. The government was therefore beaten, for lack of majority, especially because of the PP which chose to vote against when an abstention would have been enough to save the plan.
Total failure for the executive
From Montevideo, where he is on the move, Pedro Sánchez had anticipated the failure and promised to return to the charge: “I predict that he will be voted,” he launched to the press a few hours before the ballot. For the head of government, the issue was twofold: protecting the country from a new energy chaos and proving its ability to govern despite a fragmented parliament.
The rejected text provided for several technical measures: strengthening of network supervision, improvement of voltage control capacities, depreciation of electric oscillations, incentives for the storage of electricity (in particular via batteries) and relaxation of deadlines for the development of wind and photovoltaic projects. “It was a question of making our electrical system more robust and effective,” justified the Minister of Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen.
“A bandage on a poorly treated wound”
But for the right -wing opposition, this plan was only a dressing on a poorly treated wound. “We do not approve of the energy policy of this government, nor this so-called anti-plain plan which aims above all to hide its errors,” accused the deputy for PP Guillermo Mariscal. Despite intense pressures of large electricity companies, the PP refused to offer a victory to Pedro Sánchez, with whom he maintains particularly tense relationships.
Our file on Spain
The official report published on June 17 by the government confirmed that the April 28 breakdown had been caused by “overvoltages” having sparked a “chain reaction”. He also pointed out management errors of the electrical network manager as well as certain companies in the sector. Pedro Sánchez will now have to review his copy to convince a majority of elected officials to adopt this strategic text, which not only engages the energy future of Spain but also the credibility of his government.
