"This pipeline would greatly reduce the dependence that we see in the current situation", underlined the German chancellor, in a press conference. Scholz stressed that he has even taken the matter to meetings with the leaders of Portugal, Spain, France and the European Commission in Brussels.

While European Union countries such as Germany, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic are highly dependent on Russian natural gas, Portugal only gets 10% of its energy from that source.

Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, António Costa has been pressing at European level for this dossier to be discussed and seen as an alternative to the energy provided by Moscow.