Macron rejects the Midcat: "It is false that it solves the gas problem, factually false"

Emmanuel Macron challenged the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, on Monday to convince him that Europe needs to build the MidCat gas pipeline between Spain and France, which the French president considers useless to face the current crisis and harmful to the environment.

Macron said that it is “false, factually false” that the MidCat resolves gas shortages and, paraphrasing General De Gaulle, declared that he did not understand why one should get agitated and “jump like Pyrenean kids” over this matter.

"I speak of facts, I do not do politics," Macron said to justify his opposition to MidCat, in a press conference in Paris, after meeting by videoconference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“Chancellor Scholz”, he added, “he has not given me different facts that have convinced me of the need for a new gas interconnection.

If tomorrow President Sánchez tells me: 'here are the facts', I am willing to review my position”.

In response to a question from the press, the French president confirmed the French position against the new gas pipeline.

But he developed it like no one else in the French government and the Elysée had done it in public to date.

“We need more electrical interconnections,” he said.

"I am not convinced that we need more gas interconnections whose consequences on the environment and ecosystems are more important."

Macron's argument is twofold.

First, he believes that the Midcat is useless in responding to the current crisis stemming from the threat of Russian supply shutdown.

He explained that "the reality is that there are already two gas pipelines between Spain and France" and that these, since the beginning or current period of tension in February, have been used at 55% of their capacity.

What's more, he affirmed: in August France was exporting gas to Spain.

“I say it very naively: I don't understand the short-term problem that it is trying to solve, I don't understand it,” he declared.

“And to plagiarize one of my predecessors: I don't understand why we would jump like Pyrenean kids on this issue to explain that it would solve the gas problem.

It is false, factually false.

If today we were at 100% utilization of our gas pipelines and today there was a need to export gas to France, Germany and elsewhere, I would say yes, but it is not like that”.

Macron's second argument is that if MidCat were built, it would run into strong environmental opposition.

"That is not without foundation," he added.

In his opinion, the gas pipeline does not respond to the objectives of combating climate change, nor to the future forecasts of gas imports from Spain.

He also claimed that using the MidCat to transport hydrogen would require expensive tube work.