Spain’s blackout hangover

16 mins read

April 29, 2025 7:00 am CET

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: Mark Carney’s Liberals won the Canadian election, pulling off a huge political comeback made possible by Donald Trump’s antagonism. Our Canadian colleagues have all the details.

HOWDY. Sarah Wheaton with you for this Tuesday edition of Brussels Playbook, taking comfort in the fact that the next time we make a mistake at work by, say, confusing two similarly named EU countries or getting lost in the European Parliament, at least we didn’t tip a €60 million fighter jet into the sea. Suzanne Lynch helms the good ship Brussels Playbook on Wednesday.

DRIVING THE DAY: BLACKOUT HANGOVER

“SOMETHING WEIRD AS HELL HAS HAPPENED”: Those are the exact words Aitor Hernández-Morales, who happens to be POLITICO’s expert in both power grids and Iberian affairs, Slacked to Playbook late Monday evening as it became clear it would take longer than expected to restore power in Spain and Portugal.

5 seconds → millions in the dark for hours: Some 15 gigawatts of power vanished from Spain’s electricity grid during five seconds on Monday, triggering the massive blackout that left the Iberian peninsula in the dark for the rest of the day. That’s equivalent to 60 percent of the total being consumed nationwide at that time. “This has never happened before,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

The latest: By 5 a.m. this morning, Spanish transmission system operator Red Eléctrica announced just over 92 percent of the country’s power supply had been restored. But authorities told Spaniards to avoid transport and only use their cell phones for short calls today, El País reports. Spain’s King Felipe will chair the National Security Council today.

**A message from Reporters Without Borders (RSF): Worried about the declining state of media freedom? Stay tuned for the release of RSF’s 2025 World Press Freedom Index, coming this Friday 2 May…**

Saying what we’re thinking: “Is this a cyberattack? A terrorist attack?” said one student to Max Griera, leaving a university in Barcelona after the administration ordered everyone to go home.

Unknown: “What caused it is something that the experts have not yet established,” Sánchez said, “but they will.” He added, “No hypothesis has been rejected, and every possible cause is being investigated.”

Talk nerdy to me: The sudden drop in available power destabilized Spain’s electricity grid, which is highly integrated with Portugal’s and linked to the rest of Europe through a small number of cross-border interconnections with France. According to Eduardo Prieto, director of Red Eléctrica, that “strong oscillation in the electrical network” led Spain’s power system to “disconnect from the European system, and the collapse of the Iberian electricity network at 12:38.”

Broken chain: Over the longer term, this historic outage is sure to reignite a geeky debate with major implications for European integration. The Commission, along with Lisbon and Madrid, have pushed to better connect the Iberian peninsula to the rest of the continent — but there’s been resistance. And this blackout isn’t likely to settle the argument: A more integrated grid could have saved Spain and Portugal — or it could have turned the outage into a continental contagion. Read the explainer from Aitor, Max, Gabriel Gavin, Victor Jack and Sam Clark.

Timely discussion: EU environment ministers are preparing to sit down in Poland today to talk about the response to a rising tide of disinformation aimed at the bloc’s energy policies and divestment from fossil fuels.

VALENCIAN VINDICATION

EPP’S DEUS EX MACHINA: In the ongoing saga of the European People’s Party’s ill-conceived congress, the power outage is the plot twist no one could have imagined.

Spoiler alert: The annual gathering of the center-right political family is still on track to start today in the southern Spanish city of Valencia — but the massive protests that threatened to mar it are canceled.

Saved by the blackout: This story begins with the embarrassing, ultimately aborted scramble to move the gathering to Madrid. Somehow, congress hosts Partido Popular (PP) failed to predict, until it was too late, that holding a political celebration in a conference center that was used as a makeshift morgue for some of the hundreds killed by disastrous floods — on the six-month anniversary of said flooding — wasn’t a good look.

A new disaster strikes: Monday’s freak power outage is taking the glare off the (E)PP. The authorization to carry out a key demonstration on Monday evening was rescinded, and organizers announced that they’d called off protests “out of a sense of responsibility.”

Tables turn: “The congress continues as planned,” an EPP spokesperson told Max. Sure, some will confront unexpected problems traveling to the confab — but not all of those can be blamed on the grid. For example, all flights out of Brussels Airport today have been canceled due to the labor strike. More here and in Brussels Corner below.

Who knows: Depending on what experts learn over the coming days, it could be Sánchez’s Socialist government that finds itself on the defensive. Indeed, PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo is already trying to make that happen, El País reports.

MORE VINDICATION: Let’s be clear, the blackout sucks for people on the ground, with some still trapped in trains, unable to close their shops (electronic gates), or pay for basic necessities. But it’s offered some toldja-so moments to some key pols.

Then: Crisis Management Commissioner Hadja Lahbib was mocked for advising Europeans to pack a 72-hour emergency kit as part of the EU’s preparedness strategy.

Now: “We should have prepared one of those 72-hour survival kits,” quipped a woman on a Barcelona bus to Max Griera. El Mundo reports there’s been a run on the recommended supplies.

Then: “Our threat is not Russia bringing its troops across the Pyrenees to the Iberian peninsula,” but rather cyber and terrorist attacks, Sánchez said in March, arguing that cyber defenses and climate spending should count toward Spain’s 2 percent GDP spending commitment for NATO. That was met with eye-rolls by capitals on the front lines.

Now: Again, depending on what we learn, Sánchez’s argument might be bolstered. Ukraine jumped on the opportunity to make a friendly point about shared threats. “Our technical experts are ready to help,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Sánchez in a call.

UKRAINE

PUTIN’S LATEST “CEASEFIRE”: Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a three-day ceasefire in Ukraine from May 8-11, coinciding with his Victory Day celebrations. Seb Starcevic has the write-up.

Not impressed: Zelenskyy labeled it another attempt “to manipulate the world” and “deceive the United States” in a post on social media. “For some reason everyone is supposed to wait until May 8 before ceasing fire — just to provide Putin with silence for his parade.”

Reminder: Putin also declared a temporary truce over Easter — and violated it repeatedly. Underscoring the point, Russia targeted Kyiv in drone attacks overnight.

Emboldened by Donald: Meanwhile, the Kremlin continues to set maximalist conditions for peace negotiations. On Monday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ruled out a deal with Ukraine unless the world recognizes Crimea and other occupied territories as Russian — a red line for Kyiv, and a marked hardening of Moscow’s position shortly after Trump said Crimea would remain under Russian control. Jamie Dettmer writes that an ugly Ukraine peace deal was predictable — but will merely pause Russia’s revanchism.

KYIV TRIP POSTPONED: Ukraine had invited European leaders on May 9 for a summit to counter the optics from Putin’s victory parade in Moscow. But Polish PM Donald Tusk will instead head to Nancy that day to sign a security treaty with President Emmanuel Macron, while British PM Keir Starmer plans to attend a defense summit in Oslo. And incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz doesn’t want to go without the full posse, my Berlin Playbook colleague Hans von der Burchard reports.

Looking for a new date: The leaders are trying to find a suitable day “in the first or second week of [Merz’s] chancellorship,” which is supposed to start next week, a CDU official told Hans. But EU foreign ministers might still go to Lviv on May 9, following their informal Gymnich meeting on May 8 in Warsaw, Hans reports.

MORE MERZ TRIPS: The new chancellor plans to visit Paris the morning of May 7 and Warsaw in the afternoon. A trip to Brussels looks likely for May 9, Hans reports.

POST-TRUMP ORDER

LEAK: EU, U.K. TO INCH CLOSER TOGETHER: Britain and the EU are set to sign a formal declaration at a May 19 summit committing to “free and open trade” in defiance of Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.

What Brexit? A leaked draft seen by Camille Gijs and Jon Stone promises a “new strategic partnership” between London and Brussels based on “maintaining global economic stability and our mutual commitment to free and open trade.” It also pledges an “unwavering commitment” to Kyiv. Read the full article.

ANOTHER HOT DOC — INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL STRATEGY: The EU has a plan to keep a competitive edge in the global tech race. In a draft communication called the “international digital strategy for Europe,” the bloc is laying out how it wants to work with other regions, protect its own assets and speed up innovation to be first-past-the-post on game-changing tech like 6G and quantum. Mathieu Pollet has an exclusive sneak peek at the draft, for Tech Pros.

AND NOW FOR A DOWNER: Medical devices sector warns of “existential threat” from U.S. trade war, for Health Pro subscribers.

MIGRATION

EPP EYES HARDER ASYLUM STANCE: Don’t even let them in. That’s the idea for a large swath of asylum seekers that Spain’s Partido Popular wants the rest of the EPP to get behind. Asylum seekers shouldn’t be allowed into the EU if they’re coming from a safe third country, urges a draft resolution obtained by Max Griera. Further, “iIllegal migrants … should as a rule have their asylum claims be processed in a safe third country,” the draft argues.

Background: Under the Commission’s latest proposal, people could be shipped off to third-country deportation centers only after they’ve lost an asylum claim.

Political context: This handy analysis of national opinion polls from the CDU-linked Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung shows the EPP’s strength around Europe — and the growing threat from its right flank.

**As the EU looks to compete with China and the U.S. “The Savings and Investment Union" (SIU) is a key political priority. Join us to discuss the future of the SIU and its impact on competitiveness at POLITICO Live's event "The Savings and Investments Union: Unlocking new capital" on June 5. Apply for your seat today!**

ROMANIAN ELECTION

DEBATE UPDATE: Three candidates vying for second place in Sunday’s Romanian president election rerun clashed in a TV debate last night. Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan, running as independent; the mainstream consensus candidate Crin Antonescu; and Union Save Romania’s President Elena Lasconi went head to head for three hours, Carmen Paun reports from Bucharest.

Flower power: Election frontrunner George Simion showed up to the debate, but walked out to protest the cancelation of the election last year over allegations the first-round winner, ultranationalist Călin Georgescu, had benefitted from an illegal digital campaign and potential Russian interference. On his way out, Simion presented Lasconi with a bouquet of flowers, congratulating her for making it into the runoff last time. Carmen has more on Simion and his MAGA-inspired campaign here.

Asked what they would do in the event of a potential Russian invasion … Lasconi said she’d invoke NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause (she later added: “If I were the president of Ukraine, I would not give up an inch of land.) … Antonescu said he’d also call in NATO, noting “I’m not giving up any territory” … Dan said: “We must prevent such a moment” by “strengthening the transatlantic partnership” and “actively participating in the EU rearmament program.” Digi24 write-up here.

Latest polls: Simion leads on 29 percent … Antonescu is on 22 percent … Dan on 20 percent … Lasconi on 8 percent. H/t POLITICO’s Poll of Polls.

ORBÁN-LINKED THINK TANK FILES COMPLAINT: MCC Brussels has filed a formal complaint with the European Ombudsman about the Commission’s refusal to disclose documents related to ongoing Digital Services Act proceedings related to the Romanian presidential election, the Viktor Orbán-linked think tank said in a statement.

IN OTHER NEWS

FAREWELL TO A BRUSSELS LEGEND: Paul Hofheinz, the co-founder and president of the Lisbon Council think tank, died on Friday aged 61. Hofheinz, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, “was a giant,” the Lisbon Council said (something Playbook can attest to). “He fought a hard and brave battle with illness while seeing his ideals seemingly crumbling in these new, turbulent times.” Details of his memorial service will be made available on the Lisbon Council’s website soon.

EU PARLIAMENT RESTRICTS LOBBYIST ACCESS: Starting Thursday, interest representatives will need to activate their badges and indicate the purpose of their visit every day they enter the European Parliament’s premises. It’s part of wider reforms to shield the institution from undue influence in the wake of the Qatargate and Huawei scandals.

Logging in: Lobbyists will need to check in at a small terminal by the doors, which will require them to declare whether they are meeting with an MEP or a staff member, or whether they are attending a parliamentary meeting or another event, the Parliament press service told Max.

SO MUCH FOR DE-RISKING: The European Court of Auditors on Monday warned that the EU is dangerously reliant on China for microchips powering everything from cars to washing machines. Details here.

THE JET SET: Top officials at the European Data Protection Supervisor have expensed a high number of trips to their home countries in past years, analysis by POLITICO shows — prompting calls for closer scrutiny from a key oversight committee. Ellen O’Regan and Giovanna Coi have the story.

GERMAN ENVOYS LEAVING BRUSSELS: Berlin’s EU envoy Michael Clauss has been tapped as incoming German Chancellor Merz’s top EU adviser and is expected to start the new role in Berlin next week, Hans von der Burchard reports. NATO Ambassador Géza Andreas von Geyr will likely soon follow, as he’s expected to become a state secretary in the Foreign Office under new Minister Johann Wadephul (though final discussions on the appointment are still pending). More details on Merz’s hires from Chris Lunday.

**What should be the Commission’s first priority to make the block more competitive? Discover this and more on May 19 with EU Commissioner Roxana Mînzatu at POLITICO Live's event "Europe’s quest for competitiveness". Apply today for onsite participation.**

AGENDA

— Informal meeting of environment ministers in Warsaw. Agenda.

— EPP Congress in Valencia, Spain; Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers a speech.

— Parliament President Roberta Metsola is in Valencia; meets Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani.

— Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius is in Valencia; delivers a speech at the panel “Strengthening Europe’s Position in Global Trade and Security” at the SME Europe Economic Leadership Forum.

— Mediterranean Commissioner Dubravka Šuica in Valencia; meets Nizar Baraka, Morocco’s equipment minister; participates in the event on “Digital literacy for a competitive Europe.”

— Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is in London; hosts the EU-U.K. Joint Committee on the Withdrawal Agreement, along with U.K. EU Relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds; meets David Lammy, U.K. foreign secretary.

— Commission Executive Vice President Raffaele Fitto participates in a mid-term review of the cohesion policy at the European Economic and Social Affairs Committee’s plenary session at 3 p.m. Watch.

BRUSSELS CORNER

WEATHER: High of 23C, sunny.

STRIKE TODAY: Workers will march again today at 10 a.m. from Brussels-North station to Mont des Arts, protesting against the federal government’s budget cuts.

Planes: Flights arriving at Brussels Airport will be heavily disrupted and departing flights from both Brussels and Charleroi have been canceled.

Public transit: The route of Metro line 1 has been extended to Erasmus. Trams 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 51 and bus lines 46, 59, 71, 73 and 87 should be running, albeit at a lower frequency. Find real-time info.

Public integrity: Brussels prosecutors are also on strike — and plan to limit their focus to government corruption when they’re back on the job. H/t Simon Van Dorpe.

NEW JOB: On Monday, Mattias Guyomar of France was elected president of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. He will succeed Marko Bošnjak and take up office on May 30.

SAUNA DIPLOMACY: The famed sauna in Finland’s perm rep is closed for renovations, forcing diplomats to seek alternatives — including the one at the ambassador’s residence, Kathryn Carlson reports. Those of you who don’t enjoy diplomatic privileges can try out the public sauna in the Finnish Seamen’s Mission in Rue Jacques de Lalaing.

NEW STAR IN TOWN: The Michelin guide for Belgium and Luxembourg has awarded a star to Elaine, a restaurant opened by acclaimed Belgian chef Kobe Desramaults in December. A heads-up: you can’t choose your dishes; there is only an 18-item tasting menu.

For those on a budget: And since not everyone has €285 to splurge on a dinner (drinks not included), we’re happy to report that three restaurants in the city have received a Bib Gourmand, an award for serving great meals at a moderate price: Babam in Watermael-Boitsfort, Lune Siamoise in Ixelles and Au repos de la montagne in Uccle.

CONGRATS, JOURNOS: POLITICO Europe’s dead-tree edition (as we lovingly call it in the industry) was named as one of nine finalists in the World’s Top Print Design category by the Society of News Design. And just think, you can pick up this gem of “best in class art direction” for free almost every Thursday at the better EU Quarter coffee shops.

BIRTHDAYS: MEPs Jeroen Lenaers and Dennis Radtke; former MEPs Jarosław Duda and Gabriel Mato; journalist Gabriel Gatehouse; European Council’s Simos Piperidis; Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, former president of Croatia.

THANKS TO: Max Griera, Aitor Hernández-Morales, Carmen Paun, Camille Gijs, Hans von der Burchard and Joe Stanley-Smith; Playbook editor Alex Spence, reporter Šejla Ahmatović and producer Catherine Bouris.