The energy fable of the cicada and the ant
MadridThe fable of the cicada and the ant contrasts those who spend the summer entertained without worrying about winter – the cicada – with those who seek and store food to face the cold months – the ant –. When bad weather arrives, the former finds herself destitute and asks the latter for food, who eventually takes pity on her. During the worst years of the Great Recession, this story resonated across Europe: the State and other southern countries were seen as those who did not do their homework, while the northern countries, led by Germany, were the ants. Dutchman Jeroen Dijsselbloem summed it up like this when he was president of the Eurogroup in 2017: "I cannot spend money on alcohol and women and then ask for help".
The invasion of Russia into Ukraine and the consequent energy crisis brought this comparison to mind, but with a twist: "We cannot be asked to cut consumption [of gas]. Unlike other countries, here we have not lived beyond our energy means," asserted the Spanish Minister of Energy, Teresa Ribera, in the summer of 2022. Ribera did not explicitly refer to Germany, but everyone looked at her for having built a strong dependence on Russian gas, much cheaper, and with which she fueled her industry. When Vladimir Putin began to turn off the tap to Europe, alarms went off to the point that Olaf Scholz's government, with the Greens on board, even opened the door to resorting to coal.
The Spanish government felt strong enough to boast of an exchange of roles in the fable. And now, in the midst of the energy crisis derived from the conflict in the Middle East, it has happened again. This time through the mouth of the Spanish president himself, Pedro Sánchez, who has not looked at a European partner, but at the PP and its land tax: "Every year of land tax was a year of energy slavery," he stated during the conclave of the European wind power employers' association in Madrid. An audience comfortable in criticizing obstacles to renewables. As Ribera did in 2022, Sánchez has said that his government will not accept lessons: "Either turbines [wind generators] or turbulence" has been the slogan.
The difference with four years ago, but especially with the time of the Great Recession, is that it seems to be the same European Union that is right, although for the moment it does not accompany it in the idea of an extraordinary European tax on oil and gas companies: "Spain is the good example, the good student", said a few days ago the executive vice-president of the European Commission, the Frenchman Stéphane Séjourné, during a visit to Madrid and after appealing to the need to boost renewables and reduce dependence on gas.
Poetic justice? Surely yes, but as a student –the power outage a year ago still tells us that we have things to learn– the State has pending homework. Despite being more protected by the strong deployment of renewables it has made – it is noticeable in the price of electricity and in the reduction of emissions – it continues to be heavily dependent on oil and gas (they account for 70% of the total energy consumption and only 20% is electricity), especially on that coming from the United States produced through fracking, or from Algeria, a relationship not always fluid due to the balances with Morocco. It also has to resolve the political, economic and social puzzle of the nuclear timetable. Meanwhile, in terms of energy transition, it maintains investment in storage as the Achilles' heel of green energy: an essential technology for renewables and of the 22 GW to be reached by 2030, today there are barely 9 GW. That is why Sánchez has taken advantage of the event of the wind power employers' association, that is, of those who decide where private investments go, to promise bureaucratic facilities, immediate connection to the electricity grid and, above all, economic profitability: "It is the best country to invest in".
Leaving justice aside, the other question is whether a State that, although not an island physically, is one energetically, can do something different. France holds the key to Spain's connection with Europe, but Séjourné did not talk about that. Sánchez has: "Electricity cannot take 10 years to cross the Pyrenees".