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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 30 March 2022
Spain, Portugal emerge as 'energy island' in Europe's crisis

Associated Press energy, while finding alter-
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) native sources of natural
— Amid the mayhem pro- gas in the meantime. Rus-
voked in the world energy sia has kept the gas flowing
market by Russia's inva- for now but has turned off
sion of Ukraine, Spain and the taps in the past during
Portugal have emerged spats with Ukraine and Be-
in a strategically advanta- larus.
geous position as an "en- The crisis also has shown
ergy island" in Europe, with that the EU, despite being
a relatively low reliance on a common market for 27
Russian natural gas. nations, has major internal
Leaders in renewable ener- bottlenecks in its energy
gy thanks to solar, wind and distribution system.
hydraulic power, Spain and There are scant energy
Portugal are now poised to connections between
reap the benefits of long- Spain and Portugal and rest
term investments in lique- of Europe. That is behind an
fied natural gas, or LNG. unprecedented shift in EU
With six LNG plants in Spain policy last week when the
— including Europe's larg- Operators work at the Enagss regasification plant, the largest LNG plant in Europe, in Barcelona, Iberian countries were al-
est, in Barcelona — and Spain, Tuesday, March 29, 2022. lowed to propose their own
one in Portugal, the Ibe- Associated Press price control mechanisms
rian neighbors account for to tackle soaring energy
one-third of Europe's LNG Enagás, the company that The U.S. said it will boost low North African country. costs across the continent.
processing capacity. The runs Spain's natural gas net- LNG exports to Europe by Spain deployed diplomats Spanish Prime Minister Pe-
port-based terminals turn work. 15 billion cubic meters this to secure guarantees from dro Sánchez and his Portu-
boatloads of supercooled He spoke Tuesday during a year, with even larger ship- Algeria that it would ship guese counterpart, António
LNG back into gas that rare tour of the huge cylin- ments coming in the future. LNG. Now, Russia's war in Costa, successfully argued
then flows into homes and drical deposits at the LNG The U.S. already surpassed Ukraine has put Spain in an that the relative isolation
businesses. plant in Barcelona's port. Algeria as Spain's leading envious position. of their countries from the
"Clearly, this infrastructure Spain and Portugal are set source of natural gas at the The war has turned Europe's rest of the EU market, form-
gives us more flexibility and to receive more gas im- start of the year. dependence on Russian ing what Sánchez's gov-
strengthens our gas distribu- ports, along with the rest Spain appeared to be in gas into a critical strategic ernment calls an "energy
tion system in comparison of Europe, after the Unit- a vulnerable position last liability. In a rush to find al- island," and their high use
to those of other European ed States announced last year after Algeria shut ternatives, European Union of renewables meant that
countries that depend on week that it would help its down a gas pipeline that leaders want to accelerate they should be temporarily
pipelines," said Claudio allies reduce their depen- runs through Morocco mid- to long-term goals to released from the common
Rodríguez, spokesman for dence on Russian gas. amid a spat with its fel- shift further into renewable market rules.q

Europeans expel dozens of Russian envoys to combat espionage

By MIKE CORDER dance with international "The cabinet has decided
Associated Press standards of diplomatic to do this because of the
THE HAGUE, Netherlands behaviour." threat to national security
(AP) — In what appeared North Macedonia an- posed by this group," the
to be a coordinated ac- nounced late Monday it is Dutch ministry said in a
tion to tackle Russian espio- expelling five Russian diplo- statement. "The intelligence
nage, at least four Europe- mats for "activities contrary threat against the Neth-
an allies expelled dozens of to the Vienna Convention erlands remains high. The
Russian diplomats on Tues- on Diplomatic Relations." current attitude of Russia in
day. "Together with our allies, we a broader sense makes the
The expulsions come as re- are reducing the Russian in- presence of these intelli-
lations between Russia and telligence presence in the gence officers undesirable.
the West have plunged EU," the Czech Foreign Min- The deportation is a mea-
into a deep freeze follow- istry said. sure taken in the context of
ing Moscow's invasion of Poland last week expelled national security."
Ukraine. 45 Russians whom the gov- Dutch Foreign Minister
The Netherlands said it was ernment identified as intel- Wopke Hoekstra said he Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands Wopke Hoekstra de-
livers a speech next to France's European and Foreign Affairs
expelling 17 Russians who it ligence officers using their was prepared for a retalia- Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian during a press conference, in Paris,
described as intelligence diplomatic status as cover tion from Moscow. Friday Jan 28, 2022.
officers masquerading as to operate in the country. "Experience shows that Rus- Associated Press
diplomats. Belgium said it The Netherlands said it sia does not leave these
was ejecting 21 Russians. took its decision in consul- kinds of measures unan- earlier Tuesday, when Rus- The Russian Foreign Minis-
The Czech Republic gave tation with "a number of swered," he said. "We can- sia said it expelled a total of try said it was cancelling
one Russian diplomat 72 like-minded countries," cit- not speculate about that, 10 diplomats from the three the accreditation of four
hours to leave the country. ing similar expulsions by but the Ministry of Foreign Baltic EU states of Estonia, Lithuanian diplomats, three
Ireland told four senior Rus- the United States, Poland, Affairs is prepared for vari- Latvia and Lithuania in re- Latvians and three Esto-
sian officials to leave the Bulgaria, Slovakia, Estonia, ous scenarios that may taliation for those countries nians and they would be
country because of activi- Latvia, Lithuania and Mon- arise in the near future." expelling Russian diplomats required to leave the coun-
ties deemed not "in accor- tenegro. That was demonstrated earlier this month. try. q