Sánchez, Scholz and Costa stage the 'MidCat front' in Berlin and increase the pressure on France

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right);

the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez (left), and the Portuguese prime minister, António Costa, this Friday on the terrace of the German Chancellery, in Berlin.JOHN MACDOUGALL / POOL (EFE)

The good harmony between the three most important leaders of European social democracy was staged this Friday in Berlin, where the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, received the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez, and the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa.

The leaders, meeting on the occasion of the congress of the European Socialist Party (PSE), took the opportunity to meet privately at the Chancellery and thus launch a joint message to strengthen the

.

The three leaders pressure the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to accept the construction of this gas pipeline through the Pyrenees as a solution to increase energy interconnections on the continent and allow Spain and Portugal to send gas -and in the future hydrogen- to the rest of Europe.

More information

Why Spain and Germany want MidCat and France rejects it: pros and cons of the project

With the next meeting of the European Council just around the corner (October 20 and 21), the leaders have also talked about security in Europe and the situation caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The three "have reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as necessary," says a joint statement sent at the end of the meeting.

Before the next meeting in Brussels, the leaders of Spain, Germany and Portugal have discussed issues related to the economic effects of the Russian war of aggression, such as high energy prices, which are pushing up the cost of living.

The euro zone registered record levels of inflation in August, rising to 9.1%.

Sánchez, Scholz and Costa "agreed on the importance of providing common and urgent European responses to the challenges arising from high energy prices," the statement added.

Precisely Germany has provoked reluctance among its European partners in recent weeks after announcing an aid package of 200,000 million euros to alleviate energy costs for its citizens and their companies, an energy plan that its critics consider a danger to the common market.

Sánchez himself reminded Scholz of this, albeit in a veiled way, the last time they saw each other, at the Spanish-German bilateral summit held in A Coruña on October 5.

"We have to give European answers," Sánchez said then, "so as not to come out of the crisis with more economic differences between countries."

The

, the plan with which Europe wants to be at the forefront of decarbonisation, is "essential" to accelerate the transition to a CO₂-free economy before 2050, the three leaders said.

The war in Ukraine has forced Europe to look for alternatives to Russian hydrocarbons in record time.

The importance of diversifying energy sources to guarantee security of supply in Europe occupied much of the meeting, since the leaders consider that it is essential to speed up the construction of energy interconnections within the EU.

Scholz is in favor of increasing interconnections throughout Europe, thinking not only of the current crisis, but also in the medium and long term, that is, in the green hydrogen that will be produced in the future with renewable energies, a field in which Spain intends to lead the market in 2030 generating 10% of European production.

Short-term profitability is one of the arguments used by Macron to resist the construction of the gas pipeline.

Spain defends that the infrastructure will be profitable in the future when it can transport hydrogen, a point of view shared by Lisbon and Berlin.

The coalition of social democrats, greens and liberals that governs in Germany is promoting the construction of infrastructures that will allow it to get rid of dependence on Russian hydrocarbons as soon as possible.

The MidCat would be one more possibility to diversify the energy supply.

Scholz has already expressed his "explicit" support for the project at the Spanish-German summit.

Both Sánchez, who assures that it will be possible to reach an agreement with Macron, and Costa are willing to continue trying to convince the French president.

The next occasion to deal with the issue of gas interconnection will be at the European Council next week.

Sánchez has met with Scholz just the day after the defense ministers of 14 European countries signed a letter of intent for the development of a "European Sky Shield Initiative", a project led by Germany to protect Europe from attacks with missiles.

Spain is not part of the project.

Defense Minister Margarita Robles has assured that Berlin has not "formally" invited Spain to participate.

The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, added in an interview on TVE that if he does so, the proposal "will be studied."

The European Socialists on Friday chose their new president, former Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.

The new leader of the Social Democratic family assured in his speech that Europe is experiencing "difficult times".

“The dire security situation, the climate threat, the widening gaps in society, high energy prices and the threat to democracy are some of the main challenges we face,” he said.

In his country, a government agreement was reached this Friday with the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, who will not enter the Executive, but have signed the pact for the conservative Ulf Kristersson to lead the country.

The 250 delegates present at the congress in Berlin spoke of the challenge of countering the push of the extreme right.

The Social Democrats, said Löfven,

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