FRANCOIS HOLLAND VISITS MADRID ABOUT ELECTRIC INTERCONNECTIONS FOR ENERGY

USPA NEWS - The President of the French Republic, François Hollande, will participate in the Summit on the interconnections between France, Spain and Portugal in the field of energy in Europe, which will take place in Madrid Wednesday, March 4th. (Source Elysee Palace).

DETAILS OF THE PROVISIONAL PROGRAM

17 h 20 Arrival of the French President of the Republic at the Moncloa Palace and welcome by Mr. Mariano Rajoy Brey, Head of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain.

17 h 30 Meeting of the head of state with Mariano Rajoy Brey and Pedro Passos Coelho, Prime Minister of Portugal.

18 h 30 Plenary Meeting with Mariano Rajoy Brey, Pedro Passos Coelho, the President of the Republic, Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission and Mr Werner Hoyer, President of the European Bank investment.

19: 45 Joint press conference with Mr. Mariano Rajoy Brey, Head of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, Pedro Passos Coelho, Prime Minister of Portugal François Hollande President of French Republic.

THE BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Energy interconnectors are crucial to build an Energy Union with a forward-looking climate policy, one of the key priorities of the new Commission as laid down by President Juncker in his political guidelines. The completion of this project forms part of a broader strategy of the Juncker Commission to connect the energy markets in Europe. As part of this strategy, on 25 February the Commission will present a communication on how to achieve an electricity interconnection of 10% in all Member States by 2020. This communication will go hand in hand with the Energy Union Strategy that will be presented on the same day.------------------------------------------------------------Moreover, President Juncker, together with the leaders of France, Spain and Portugal, will give a boost to this process on the occasion of their summit to be held on 4 March in Madrid ". (Source, European Union, europa.eu) According to the European Commission´s reports, the power line connects the towns of Baixàs, in the Rosellón region (France), and Santa Llogaia, in Alto Ampurdán (Spain). It is 64.5 km long, of which 33.5 km run in France and 31 km in Spain. The line crosses the Pyrenees at the Albera massif. An 8.5-kilometre tunnel has been built for this section. The rest of the line runs in underground trenches. "The total cost of the project was €700 million, €255 of which was covered by the EU under the European Energy Programme for Recovery".-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For more information see www.elyse.fr, http://europa.eu