Catalan leader confident gas pipeline with France will be built this decade

Catalonia's regional head of government Pere Aragones speaks during an interview at Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona, Spain, April 20, 2022. Picture taken April 20, 2022. REUTERS/Albert Gea

BARCELONA (Reuters) - The head of the regional government of Catalonia is confident a pipeline to ship gas and potentially green hydrogen from the northeastern Spanish region to France will be built this decade as Europe seeks to cut its energy reliance on Russia.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has boosted political support in Spain for the Midi-Catalonia (Midcat) pipeline project, which was rejected in 2019 by French and Spanish regulators arguing it did not respond to market needs back then, despite being backed by the European Union.