Esquerra asks the European Commission whether passing on the losses of the Castor project to taxpayers violates EU regulations

MEP Diana Riba denounces that “socializing the losses of failed private investments, that also go against the objectives of the European Green Pact, is absolutely absurd”

Esquerra Republicana MEPs Jordi Solé and Diana Riba have put a written question to the European Commission on whether passing on the losses of the Castor Natural Gas Submarine Storage project to the taxpayer, as a failed private investment, is compatible with European internal market rules and consumer protection law. The MEPs introduced the issue following Spain’s Supreme Court ruling that obliges the State to pay banks the €1.35bn loaned to finance the compensation paid out for the failed submarine gas reservoir. In the text, the MEPs point out that the decision will mean “it is the state, and ultimately the taxpayers, who have to bear the losses of a private investment which has been deemed harmful to the environment and the people living in the adjacent areas.”

According to the MEPs, the Castor project went ahead thanks to finance through a bond issue sponsored by the European Investment Bank, the EU’s public financial institution, but was closed down after it generated a wave of hundreds of seismic tremors before it even got under way.

“Socializing the losses of failed private investments, which in any case go against the objectives of the European Green Deal, is absolutely absurd. European legislation should not allow situations where consumers end up paying for private investment failures,” said Mr Solé.

“Mr Florentino Pérez—the magnate behind the Castor project—and company attempted to build a natural gas reservoir, which after years of development has produced nothing but earthquakes and millions in losses that they mean to be passed on to the citizens. Castor is the story of a massive scam that we denounce here and now,” added Ms Riba.