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ARCHIVED - Sparks fly between presidents over Spain-France AVE train line
Spain will demand that France complete its section of the high-speed rail connection on time
Just a month after President Emmanuel Macron of France and Spain’s own Pedro Sanchez signed a pioneering Friendship Treaty in Barcelona, political sparks are flying between the neighbouring nations once more, this time over reported French delays to the high-speed rail line between the two countries.
Tensions are already high since earlier this month Brussels sided with France over Spain and agreed that green hydrogen produced through nuclear power could be used towards their renewable energy quotas. The Spanish government, alongside others, had argued that only truly “green” methods should be permitted, such as wind and solar power.
The latest grievance was exposed on Wednesday February 22 through an official document from the Ministry of Transport in France, which claimed that the French section of the AVE, aimed at creating a high-speed corridor between Madrid and Paris, won’t be finished until 2042.
The original completion date agreed by President Macron was 2030. Now, not best pleased, Pedro Sanchez has vowed this week to demand that the French fulfil their commitment to the project.
"I hope they don't fool you. What good is it that things have been approved if later one of the parties contradicts it?" questioned Basque councillor Aitor Esteban. The French high-speed rail is due to be connected with the Basque Y in Spain.
Once the EU-funded Madrid-Vitoria-Dax-Paris connection is up and running it will complete the long-awaited AVE Atlantic corridor, one of the largest railway projects currently underway, beside the Mediterranean corridor.
“The Spanish Government will defend the interests of all its territories. We are going to meet the deadlines that correspond to us and we will demand that France also meet them," the President of the Government has promised.
Hostilities also continue to bubble under the surface over the unilateral and prolonged closure by France of six border crossings with the Basque Country and Catalonia. The French government insists that the controls are in place to reduce illegal immigration from North Africa, but Spain has requested that freedom of movement between the two nations be fully restored after a formal review on April 30.
Image: La Moncloa
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