Energy policy continues to take center stage in Spanish politics.
Having alienated Algeria and sworn off nuclear energy, the ruling, socialist-led coalition is offering few solutions to an ever-more burdened population as energy prices soar (together with general inflation).
In this context, VOX recently presented its alternative to the government’s policy at the nation’s Congress. Specifically, this took the form of a potential amendment to a 2021 law concerning climate change and the ‘green transition.’ The original law imposes a freeze on exploring and exploiting Spanish natural resources such as fossil fuels and certain minerals.
VOX would lift this freeze and introduce a provision concerning the need to move towards ‘energy sovereignty’ in order to avoid crises like the one currently assailing Europe, of which Spain is one of the worst-hit countries.
The amendment would also allow for resuming the operations of, and building new, nuclear plants, something the government has completely ruled out.
But VOX went even further, asking that the government organize a referendum to ask the people directly whether they favor exploiting their own resources over continuing to rely on foreign, volatile, energy sources.
