Amid supermarket food rationing, a truck drivers' strike over petrol prices and rising inflation in Spain, the country's economy minister tells FRANCE 24 that it's "essential" for Madrid to be allowed to take measures to bring electricity prices down. "We're working with the Commission to have an authorisation to decouple our energy market and thus stop this price increase […] It doesn't make sense that Spanish and Portuguese citizens do not benefit from the fact that we have for instance at least 50 percent of our generation from renewables. This is very cheap and clean energy and our citizens should benefit from these low prices," Nadia Calviño explains.
Meanwhile, in the week that the European Commission declared that there are too many Ukrainian refugees in Poland, and that some should seek temporary residency in other EU states, the minister says Spain is "willing and able to support those countries closest to the Ukrainian border" and that having already welcomed around 30,000 refugees, "we expect to shortly reach 70,000".
And as Germany's economy minister declares that the latest sanctions package against Vladimir Putin’s regime should not be the last, Calviño says it's also important to ensure that existing sanctions are effective. "We have been reinforcing them week after week, closing loopholes, ensuring that they do have the desired impact in the sense of making Putin stop his attacks as soon as possible."
Finally, following a foreign policy pivot by Madrid over the status of the disputed territory of Western Sahara – which has prompted Algeria to recall its ambassador – the minister says that "our relations with Algeria are as good as they can be" and that "we are entering a new phase of relations with Morocco, marked by increased dialogue and close cooperation".
Produced by Isabelle Romero, Georgina Robertson, Sophie Samaille and Perrine Desplats
