The Alicante Eurosummit opened with high-level discussions among European leaders. Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez, France’s president Emmanuel Macron, and Portugal’s prime minister Antonio Costa gathered to outline plans for a green hydrogen corridor. This ambitious project would link the Iberian Peninsula with France and the broader European grid through an underwater transmission line between Barcelona and Marseille. The gathering signaled a major European energy initiative, underscored by the presence of Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, at the event.
What is green hydrogen?
The event took place at the European Intellectual Property Office headquarters in Alicante during an introductory session of the MED-9 summit. This meeting brought together leaders from the EU’s Mediterranean nations for a day of talks at the Ciudad de la Luz facilities. Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, who had to skip participation due to illness, had planned to attend.
The presence of European leaders necessitated strict security measures throughout the city and drew hundreds of journalists from across the continent.
This is how the streets of Alicante will be closed to traffic today on the occasion of the EU-MED 9 celebrations.
The agreement on the H2MED project, a waterway-like corridor between Barcelona and Marseille, reached a milestone on October 20 after a dispute between Madrid and Paris over Sánchez’s proposal to revive the German-backed MidCat plan. The proposal centers on a gas pipeline linking Spain and France via the Pyrenees, which had faced earlier rejection. Sánchez’s team argued for a revamped approach to address energy supply issues caused by the war in Ukraine in Central Europe.
This iteration emphasizes the deployment of renewable power and sees the pipeline as a vehicle for clean energy rather than a short-term gas solution. European funding considerations now favor projects that prioritize renewable energy, aligning with broader decarbonization goals.
Eurozummit in Alicante, whose main axes are energy and tax policy.
The summit’s discussions included the practical steps needed to move the H2MED project forward and the political backing required to secure funding. Leaders discussed how the corridor could integrate with national grids and what regulatory and financial frameworks would be necessary to accelerate construction and deployment.
The public exchange reflected a shared understanding that the proposed green hydrogen pathway could become a cornerstone of Europe’s energy strategy. While opposition among some leaders tempered immediate advancement, the dialogue produced a pathway that could shape future energy policy and infrastructure investment across the region.
The discussions also touched on the broader role of green hydrogen in decarbonization. Spain, pursuing renewable energy expansion, aims to leverage solar power and other renewables to generate hydrogen through water electrolysis. This hydrogen could be produced domestically or sourced from neighboring regions as European demand grows. The infrastructure being discussed would not only carry hydrogen but could also facilitate future energy transfers, strengthening Europe’s energy independence.
With the proposed canal-like water pathway, the project could become a pivotal component of Europe’s energy strategy, potentially contributing a meaningful portion of the continent’s renewable hydrogen target under the RePowerEU framework by the year 2030. The corridor is envisioned as a long-term solution that supports the European push toward energy autonomy and intensified use of renewable resources for electricity and hydrogen production.