On August 30th, following a meeting between Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the French government, via Macron’s economic minister Bruno Le Maire, has stated that it is open to approving a natural gas pipeline that would pass from Spain to Germany.
The project, dubbed MidCat, had previously been met with some disapproval in France.
Scholtz has previously emphasized the need to build such a pipeline, which is part of a general pivot away from Russia on account of the Ukraine war, and towards North Africa, which Germany has historically resisted.
The pipeline from Spain will complement (or compete) with that which Italy has accorded with Algeria. For its part, it remains to be seen whether Spain will secure gas from Algeria, a country it has alienated by supporting Moroccan annexation of the Western Sahara.
It is also of a piece with the proposed pipelines exploiting Eastern Mediterranean energy, including projects set to pass from Israel to Turkey or Greece.
