Prague, Oct 6 (AP) French President Emmanuel Macron said his government does not support the idea of building a new pipeline to pump natural gas between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe despite the continent's energy crisis.

During the war in Ukraine, European Union countries have struggled to find common ground on how to wean the bloc off its reliance on Russian gas.

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Spain is pushing to build another, larger gas pipeline to France, a plan that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated his support on Wednesday.

Macron said ahead of a Thursday meeting of European countries in Prague that existing pipelines between Spain and France were only being used at 50 to 60 per cent of their capacity at the moment.

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“What does Europe need in the coming years? To produce more electricity on its soil and have a renewable and nuclear (energy) strategy,” the French leader said.

The new pipeline would need five to eight years to be built, Macron said, suggesting that France does not want to be importing large quantities of gas in the long term.

“I think our priority is rather to get more electricity interconnection in Europe, so I'm more in favour of these projects,” he said.

Last month, Portugal's prime minister said European authorities were considering a liquefied natural gas pipeline from Spain to Italy as a way of getting around France's opposition. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)