Grid failure sparks political showdown over Spanish blackout
Shares of the Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica de España fell by nearly 2% following the Monday blackout that affected a significant portion of the country. Opposition politicians are demanding explanations from the management of the company responsible for supplying power to Spanish households.
Two addresses by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, one at 12:00 PM and another around 5:00 PM on Monday, proved insufficient not only for opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo but also for the government's parliamentary allies. The ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia) and BNG (Galician Nationalist Bloc) submitted a request in the Congress of Deputies for the "urgent attendance" of the head of government and several ministers to explain the reasons for the blackout that plunged the entire Iberian Peninsula into darkness starting at 7:32 AM on Monday.
Catalan republicans and Galician nationalists are demanding that Sánchez provide "explanations in the lower house of parliament regarding the reasons and the Spanish government's management of the blackout situation." Both parties believe that more detailed public explanations in the parliamentary forum are necessary.
Summons for ministers and heads of energy institutions
The demands of ERC and BNG extend beyond the prime minister. The parties are also calling for the appearance before parliament of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Ecological Transition Sara Aagesen, Minister of Transport Óscar Puente, and Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska. The Catalans and Galicians also want to summon those responsible for the state secretariats for communication, state security, and nuclear safety to the committee meeting.
Included in the list of individuals the applicants believe should provide explanations are the president of the Spanish electricity grid (Red Eléctrica de España) and the director of operations of this institution. Parliamentarians expect representatives of these institutions to clarify the technical aspects of the failure that led to one of the largest power outages in the history of the Iberian Peninsula.
