France

While Europe fears for its pocket after gas cuts in the Middle East, France has a plan: its nuclear power

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Europe holds its breath in the face of the threat of a new energy crisis. The escalation of war in the Middle East has caused a real earthquake in the markets. The de facto blockade in the vital Strait of Hormuz puts in check the arrival of liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships from Qatar, forcing cargo ships to deviate towards Asia. With European gas reserves below 30% after an unusually cold winter, panic relives the nightmare of 2022 it is palpable. However, in the midst of this continental chaos, France observes the situation with an apparent and calculated calm. The French country believes it has an ace up its sleeve to avoid blackouts and industrial ruin: its imposing, and recently resurrected, nuclear fleet. A historical export record. While northern Europe trembles over gas, the French electricity grid operator, RTE, has just put figures on the table that support the Elysée’s optimism. According to the Bilan electric 2025Last year, France broke its historical record by exporting 92.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity. To put it in perspective, RTE’s Director General of Economics, Thomas Veyrenc, explained to the Revue Générale Nucléaire that this volume exceeds the annual electricity consumption of an entire country like Belgium. This milestone has returned France to its traditional role as Europe’s “electric battery”, a status that it had resoundingly lost in 2022. The secret of this success lies in the recovery of its nuclear park, which produced 373 TWh in 2025 (3.1% more than the previous year) thanks to better availability of its reactors. As pointed out by Financial Timesthis French nuclear fleet is precisely the energy lever that Europe was missing after the invasion of Ukraine, and could be the key to not having to turn on polluting coal plants again in the face of the current gas cut in the Middle East. The paradox: they export because they do not consume. Economically, the move is round. According to Le Mondethese exports have earned France 5.4 billion euros. By having so much low-cost electricity production (nuclear and hydroelectric), the country manages to maintain very competitive wholesale prices, situated at an average of €61/MWh in 2025, well below the suffocating prices suffered by neighbors such as Germany or Italy. But this “miracle” has some worrying fine print. As the specialized media warns Le Monde de l’EnergieFrance exports so much electricity mainly because its domestic consumption is stagnant. The country’s electricity demand remained at 451 TWh in 2025, 6% below pre-crisis levels. The reality is that France is far behind in the electrification of its own economy. Paradoxically, 56% of the final energy consumed by the country continues to depend on fossil fuels, especially in sectors such as transportation and heating. The energy clamp to Spain. The French master plan to establish itself as the energy savior of Europe has a clear loser: the Iberian Peninsula. As we explained in Xatakawhile Germany pays more than 100 euros for electricity and France pays 13 euros, in Spain and Portugal renewable overproduction sinks prices until they reach zero or negative values. Why doesn’t that cheap and clean Iberian energy flow to a thirsty Europe? Because France acts as a protective wall. The country maintains Spain as an “energy island” with only 2.8% interconnection, deliberately blocking vital projects in Aragon and Navarra in its network plan for 2025-2035. ANDThe eternal France-Spain conflict. The motivation is not technical, but pure geostrategy and economic survival. Paris needs urgently make profitable a pharaonic investment of 300,000 million euros in its atomic sector. Allowing the massive entry of competitive Spanish solar and wind energy would sink the prices and profitability of its nuclear plants. In fact, President Emmanuel Macron has come to attack the Spanish energy model in the international press, calling it unstable, arguing that a network does not support a 100% renewable model, and describing the urgency of interconnections as a “false debate.” However, the data dismantles the Elysée story. On the one hand, there is the “Danish mirror”: Denmark operates with more than 80% wind generation and does not suffer blackouts because it is ultra-interconnected with its neighbors to balance the load. On the other hand, the flagrant French amnesia regarding 2022 stands out, the year in which the French reactors failed massively due to corrosion problems and it was Spain that had to export electricity to rescue France from the blackouts. Because of this current plug, Spain is forced to throw it away (what is known as technical discharges or curtailment) around 7% of its clean energy because it literally “does not fit” into the grid. All this is part of a strategy of total domination by the Elysée: Macron not only seeks civil energy hegemony, but, how to collect CNBChas put a doctrine of “advance deterrence” on the table, offering the protection of its nuclear weapons to Europe in the face of the withdrawal of the United States. The Achilles heel: the uranium crisis. However, Macron’s nuclear fortress could have feet of clay. The chain RFI (Radio France International) warns that this “nuclear renaissance” faces great uncertainty over uranium supply. Historically, France obtained 20% of its uranium from Niger. But following the recent military coup, the ruling junta revoked the permits of the French company Orano, nationalized the mines and blocked exports, leaving Paris with a gaping supply hole. Now, France is desperately trying to look for new sources in countries like Kazakhstan (the world’s largest producer) or Mongolia, but there it comes face to face with the overwhelming geopolitical, business and infrastructure influence of Russia and China. A castle with a drawbridge. France has managed to build an energy strength that, in the short term, allows it to weather the Middle East storm better than its European neighbors, selling its surpluses at a gold price. But it does so at the cost of isolating the Iberian Peninsula and betting everything on a mineral, uranium, whose control is increasingly slipping out of its hands on the global chessboard. Time will … Read more

In 1958 France drew up a nuclear plan to defend Europe without the US. Now you want to activate it with a name: “archipelago of power”

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In western France, off the coast of Brittany, there is a naval base practically invisible to the public where some of the quietest submarines on the planet are hidden. Each of them can spend months under the ocean without being detected and carry missiles capable of traveling thousands of kilometers. Since the 1960s, at least one of these submarines has been permanently patrolling in secret, ready to act in a matter of minutes if the order comes. The return of an old idea. In 1958, Charles de Gaulle made a decision that would mark French defense policy for decades: develop a nuclear deterrent completely independent of the United States. The logic was simple but radical for your time. Although Washington was an indispensable ally, its interests did not always have to coincide with those of Europe, and in an extreme crisis the continent could be left unprotected. Since then, the French nuclear doctrine has maintained a deliberate ambiguity about which countries or territories come inside of the “vital interests” that would justify a nuclear response. That idea, conceived in the middle of the Cold War as a guarantee of strategic sovereignty, returns today to the center of debate European in a context of uncertainty about the American commitment to the defense of the continent. From ambiguity to deterrence. Now, President Emmanuel Macron has decided to turn that strategic tradition into a concrete proposal. Under the concept “advance deterrence”France proposes for the first time deploying elements of its nuclear force on the territory of European allied countries, participating with them in strategic exercises and coordinating more closely the nuclear protection of the continent. The proposal represents a step beyond the classic French ambiguity: although arms control would remain exclusively in the hands of the French president, his presence or training in other countries would send a direct signal that the French nuclear umbrella can extend beyond its borders. A nuclear archipelago in Europe. The operational concept that Paris is exploring is based on disperse part of your deterrence strategic throughout Europe. In practice it could involve temporary deployments of Rafale fighters capable of carrying nuclear weapons in allied countriesstrategic patrols or joint exercises that integrate conventional forces from other European states into the French deterrence system. Macron has described that network as a kind of “archipelago of power”, designed to complicate the calculation of any potential adversary. Although France would maintain absolute control over the use of weapons, the physical presence of these means in different parts of the continent would reinforce the credibility of the deterrent message. Eight countries begin to move. The media reported this week that the initiative has ceased to be a simple strategic hypothesis and is beginning to take political shape. Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Greece and Finland they already participate in talks with Paris to explore different levels of cooperation on nuclear deterrence. Some of these countries are studying participating in French strategic exercises, while others are analyzing the possible temporary deployment of French nuclear capabilities on their territory. In any case, this turn reflects a profound change in the European attitude: for decades, most governments avoided seriously discussing any alternative to the US nuclear umbrella. The factor that changes everything. What has transformed the scenario is both the French proposal and the geopolitical context convulsed. Of course, there they appear first of all the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow’s accelerated rearmament and doubts about the United States’ military commitment to Europe, all issues that have forced many governments to rethink the continent’s security architecture. Donald Trump’s return to the White House and his rhetoric about reducing the American role in European defense have ended accelerate that reflection French that seems to be reaching several members of the continent. In this climate, the old Paris doctrine (which for decades seemed like a vestige of the Cold War) is beginning to be perceived as a possible centerpiece of a more autonomous European deterrence. A limited but deterrent arsenal. France has around 290-300 nuclear warheads deployed in strategic submarines and combat aircraft, an arsenal much smaller than that of major nuclear powers such as the United States, Russia or China. However, French doctrine does not seek numerical parity, but rather the ability to inflict “unacceptable” damage to any aggressor. That logic is the basis of the concept nuclear deterrent: It is enough for the adversary to believe the possibility of a devastating response is credible for the attack to become too risky. With the new strategy, Paris aims to demonstrate that this principle can be extended beyond its territory and become, for the first time explicitly, one of the pillars of European security. Image | US Navy In Xataka | In the midst of the Cold War, France designed a nuclear rearmament plan for Europe. Now it’s loud again In Xataka | France and the United Kingdom have reached a curious agreement: to merge their nuclear arsenal if someone threatens Europe

Spain and Portugal have “free” energy right now. If we do not share it with Europe it is due to only one reason: France

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While the Iberian Peninsula registers a surplus of unprecedented renewable energy at bargain prices, the rest of the continent continues to be suffocated by triple-digit bills. In the middle of these two realities a wall rises, not of stone, but of political and nuclear interests: France. The northern neighbor acts as a plug that prevents cheap energy from the south from flowing north, protecting its atomic industry at the expense of European consumers’ pockets. Two Europes disconnected. The data from February 11 are a blow to the table of European integration. According to the records of OMIE and ESIOSthe average daily market price in Spain has plummeted to €4.23/MWh, with hours in which producers have had to pay for injecting energy (negative prices of -€0.42/MWh). The situation in Portugal is even more extreme: the megawatt hour is paid at €0.34, that is, practically free. However, it is enough to cross the Pyrenees for reality to change drastically. The price map ESIOS turns central and northern Europe red: Germany pays electricity at €100.62/MWh, Belgium at €72.04/MWh and the Netherlands at €88.70/MWh. France, strategically located in the middle, enjoys a comfortable price of €13.61/MWh, benefiting from buying cheaply from the south without missing out on the flow to its northern neighbors. This disparity perfectly visualizes the concept of “energy island”: a peninsula overflowing with resources that does not have enough bridges to share them. The great uncoupling of February. What we are experiencing these first two weeks of February is what experts call a “total decoupling.” According to the analysis of Aleasoft Energy Forecastingthe arrival of several Atlantic storms has triggered wind and hydroelectric generation on the peninsula. By adding the solar contribution, the supply has far exceeded the internal demand. The Iberian market (MIBEL) has seen how their prices They fell by 43% in Spain and a staggering 74% in Portugal in just one week, reaching daily averages of €0.54/MWh, values ​​that had not been seen since April 2024. Meanwhile, the Energy Charts graphs show that Germany has continued with prices oscillating above €100/MWh for much of January and early February, still depending on non-renewable sources. The drama of throwing away energy. Having cheap electricity seems like excellent news for the domestic consumer, but it hides a serious systemic inefficiency. As there are not enough cables to export this surplus to a Europe thirsty for cheap energy, Spain is forced to carry out curtailment (technical discharges). As we have already explained in Xatakawe are literally throwing away around 7% of clean energy because it “does not fit” into the grid and has no outlet. This scenario causes zero prices that, paradoxically, can ruin renewable investors, who need profitability to continue deploying parks. Furthermore, the situation has uncovered the seams of the Spanish internal network. The network is administratively “collapsed”: the CNMC has had to delay until May 2026 the publication of the capacity maps because, under the new security criteria, 90% of the network nodes appear saturated. Only 12% of connection requests are being approved, which means that we have the energy, but the cables are missing to bring it to new industries and homes. The French nuclear “bunker”. If there is excess energy in the south and lack in the north, why not build an electric highway? The answer has its own name: nuclear protectionism. President Emmanuel Macron has declared that interconnections They are a “false debate”arguing that Spain’s problem is a “100% renewable model that its own network does not support.” However, the data refute the Elysée story. As expert Joaquín Coronado explainsSpain is not 100% renewable (it closed 2025 at 55.5%) and, in fact, it was Spain that came to the rescue of France in 2022 and 2025, exporting electricity through its combined cycles when the French nuclear park failed due to corrosion and heat problems. The reality, according to the CEO of RedeiaRoberto García Merino, is that the blockade “is not technical, it is pure geostrategy.” France needs to make profitable a pharaonic investment of 300,000 million euros in its nuclear park and fears that the massive entry of Spanish solar energy, much cheaper, will sink the prices and competitiveness of its reactors. Therefore, Paris has explicitly excluded of its 2025-2035 network plan the key interconnection projects for Aragon and Navarra, keeping the Iberian Peninsula as an island with only 2.8% interconnection, very far from the European objective of 15%. Any solution on the table? Brussels’ patience is running out. The European Commission has already issued an ultimatum to Francegiving him a period of nine months to unblock the situation and present a political declaration of commitment. Meanwhile, the only project that advancesalthough slow, is the submarine cable through the Bay of Biscay. Redeia confirmed that the laying campaigns will begin this summer of 2026, with an eye on its entry into operation by 2028. An unsustainable contradiction. Within the European Union, it is happening that while one member country desperately seeks energy autonomy and competitive prices for its industry, it allows another of its key partners to keep the door to the south closed. Spain could be Europe’s green battery, but without export capacity, that wealth is diluted in negative prices and technical waste. Everything happens while France acts as a strict customs officer that protects its atoms, preventing the European Union from truly being an energy union. Image | freepik Xataka | The great electrical jam in Spain: we have plenty of electricity, but there are no cables to build houses and invest more

France needs to protect its nuclear power at all costs

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Emmanuel Macron has decided to immerse himself in the controversy. In a joint interview with the major European newspapersthe French president has attacked the waterline of the Spanish energy model, describing the debate on the lack of interconnections as “false.” But behind his words lies a geopolitical anxiety: we are not facing a technical criticism of the stability of the network, but rather a territorial defense of a nuclear power. that sees its hegemony threatened for cheap energy from its southern neighbor. The direct accusation. “Spain’s problem is that it has a 100% renewable model that its own domestic network does not support,” Macron categorically sentenced The Country. The president insisted that the Spanish blackout “has nothing to do with interconnections,” but rather with the intrinsic instability of renewables. This diagnosis comes at a calculated time: according to the Financial TimesMacron uses external threats – the Greenland crisis and tensions with the US – to demand “Eurobonds” and financial centralism, asking for more Europe for his debt while building physical walls in the Pyrenees. The nuclear bunker. The underlying motivation is the economic survival of Paris. France aspires to be the “battery of Europe” and its nuclear investment plan of 300 billion euros desperately needs profitability. If Spain floods the market with cheap solar energy, the French nuclear model – centralized and expensive – loses competitiveness. Macron is already moving to protect himself: has sealed a pact with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to classify “pink hydrogen” (nuclear) as green, shielding its technology from the southern solar boom. An island by decree. The data refute the Elysée speech about self-sufficiency. Spain continues to be an “energy island” with barely 2.8% interconnection, very far from the EU’s 15% objective. As the ministers of Spain and Portugal pointed out in a letterFrance has explicitly excluded key Aragon and Navarra projects from its 2025-2035 network plan. What’s more, Ember data show thatDuring the blackout, Spain even exported energy to France because the French reactors were stopped, proving that the bottleneck is the lack of output, not generation. The Danish mirror. The fallacy about “renewable instability” collapses when looking north. with more 80% of wind generationdoes not suffer blackouts because it is ultra-interconnected to North Poolinstantly balancing its load with Germany and Norway. Meanwhile, the “nuclear stability” that Macron preaches is failing: last summer, the French reactors stopped not due to lack of wind, but because the Rhône and Garonne rivers They were too hot to cool them, skyrocketing prices in Europe while the Spanish solar plant continued to operate. Solar asphyxiation. The French blockade has a tangible cost. Without interconnections, Spain suffers curtailment —throwing 7% of their clean energy in the trash because it doesn’t fit on the grid—which sinks prices to zero and ruins investors. In his interview with The CountryMacron calls for a “European awakening” to not be vassals of China or the US. However, by keeping the Pyrenees closed, it effectively turns the Iberian Peninsula into an energy vassal of France, preventing the same strategic autonomy that it claims to defend. Image | House of Lords and freepik Xataka | The solar miracle that went wrong: Spain produces more electricity than it can manage

Spain agreed with Germany and France to bypass the US. And it will end with a fleet of F-35s because of a French name

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Since the end of the Cold War, Europe has tried several times to build large joint military programs capable of rivaling those of the United States, almost always clashing with national interests, different industrial cultures and, of course, technological egos that are difficult to fit into. Each generation of fighters has promised more integration and less external dependence. Few have managed to fulfill it, and now it was not going to be less. The surprise that was not. He FCAS was born as a high-caliber strategic ambition: France, Germany and Spain agreed to promote a new generation combat air system to get ahead of the United States and reduce European dependence of American fighters, with the ubiquitous F-35 in all pools. It was an explicit attempt to surprise technological, industrial and political in front of Washington. Today, that project more than 100,000 million of euros staggers to the point of threatening the opposite result: that Europe will continue buying F-35s and that Spain will end up reinforcing a US fleet just when it had opted for its own alternative. Dassault, the constant. Here comes an actor with a name of his own who has turned everything upside down. The main blockade does not come from Berlin or Madrid, but from a historical constant in the French military industry: Dassault Aviation. The Financial Times recalled this morning that the company, controlled by the Dassault family for generations, has demonstrated time and time again that its priority is maintain absolute control of the design and production of French fighters. He already did it in the eighties abandoning the Eurofighterand today he repeats the pattern at the FCAS, refusing to give up technical leadership or accept a shared governance with Airbus. Dassault Rafale A project broken from within. Furthermore, the FCAS was designed as an integrated system: a manned fighter, drone swarms, advanced weapons and communication networks, with Dassault leading the aircraft and Airbus the rest. That balance was blown up when disputes began on specifications, distribution of work and industrial control. France wanted a plane lighter and navalizableGermany another heavier and more versatile one. The technical differences masked a possibly deeper clash: who is really in charge at the heart of the system. France does not rule as much as it seems. Here another crux appears to understand the mess: although the French State is Dassault’s main client and controls exports, its real capacity to impose decisions is limited. Yes, the company has survived nationalization attempts, political pressures and merger projects for decades, always prioritizing independence and control. Hence, presidents have passed and ministers have changed, but Dassault remains the same. President Emmanuel Macron has tried rescue the FCAS in multiple diplomatic rounds, but his room for maneuver has narrowed as he nears the end of his term. Spain, trapped in collateral damage. The Spanish nation entered the FCAS as a partner convinced that the project would allow it break the dependency technology of the United States. That agreement with Germany and France meant resigning in the short term to the American F-35 in exchange for their own European future. If now the FCAS ends up failing as it seems and Spain ends up resorting again to American fighters, the irony is bitter: because the fault would not be in Washington, but in “home” of an ally. The outcome that no one wanted to admit. As we counted yesterdaywith the project running aground, Germany is already slipping that it could go on your own or look for other partners, while France protects to their national champion. From that perspective, the FCAS has become the closest thing to a failed test of European credibility in common defense. For Spain, the risk is now double: losing years betting on a blocked program of billions of euros and being forced to knock on Washington’s door again, although now with less political margin and worse conditions. He surprise European will have to wait and for now it is diluted, and the old Atlantic balance is imposed again, this time not due to lack of ambition, but because of excess control. Image | José Luis Celada Euba In Xataka | Spain, France and Germany could not depend on the “button” of the F-35. So the future European fighter aims for something else In Xataka | If the question is where is the 100 billion European fighter, the answer is simple: stuck on a dead-end runway

France leaves Zoom and Teams behind in its administration and aims for something greater

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For years, digital services from American companies have enjoyed a clearly dominant position in Europe. A mix of consolidated trust and lack of regional alternatives competitive on many fronts, it has been constantly expanding its user base, both individuals and companies, while fueling a shower of million-dollar contracts also coming from governments and public administrations. The footprint of large American technology companies in the Old Continent is impossible to ignore. Gmail, Instagram, Spotify and YouTube are part of the daily lives of millions of Europeans. Likewise, it is common to find public organization computers running Windows, Office or Microsoft 365, a scene so normalized that it is rarely questioned. To this visible layer is added another much less obvious, but perhaps even more strategic: cloud computing. Providers such as Microsoft’s Azure, Amazon’s AWS, or Google Cloud host everything from everyday services to critical infrastructure. In parallel, in the field of cybersecurity, platforms such as CrowdStrike Falcon They are integrated into the core of sensitive systems used by airports, airlines or financial entities. When technological dependence becomes a strategic risk However, this balance is beginning to show cracks. The question is no longer just who provides the service, but what would happen if that partner considered reliable suddenly stopped being so. How would Europe respond to such a scenario? And, above all, are you preparing to face it? For some this is an extreme hypothesis; for others, a risk that can no longer be ruled out. The truth is that the debate is no longer marginal and has reached the offices of Brussels and several European capitals. As The Wall Street Journal reports, Since the re-election of Donald Trump, those responsible for strategic sectors in Europe are putting pressure on the large American cloud service providers to facilitate quick exit mechanisms. The objective is clear: to be able to transfer systems and data to local centers or to European suppliers if necessary. And what is considered an emergency situation? The possibility, remote but not impossible, that the United States limits or even suspends access to services and data centers operated by its own companies. It would be an unprecedented move, with profound consequences for the European economy and public services. Finding an argument to justify it is as difficult as it is simple: everything can end up revolving around a concept that is increasingly present these days: “national security.” Despite the existing tensions between Europe and Washington, everything indicates that such a scenario remains unlikely in the short term. Even so, there is one incontestable fact: The concern is real. In Brussels and in several European capitals, discrete but constant steps are already being taken to reduce dependencies and gain room for maneuver. Visio, the alternative to Zoom and Teams promoted by France France has become one of the most illustrative cases. The Government is promoting the progressive withdrawal of extra-European videoconferencing solutions in the public sector to replace them with Visioa “sovereign” and open source alternative. The State’s own digital strategy portal admits that, until now, the different departments have operated with a mosaic of tools and expressly mentions Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Webex. According to the official statement, this fragmentation “weakens data security, creates strategic dependencies of external infrastructures, generates additional financial costs and makes cooperation between ministries difficult.” The answer lies in a unified solution, developed by the Interministerial Directorate for Digital, under government control and based on French technology. Visio already has about 40,000 regular users and its deployment is planned to reach 200,000 public employees. Among the first organizations to adopt it widely during the first quarter of 2026 are the CNRS, the National Health Insurance Fund, the General Directorate of Public Finances and the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Zoom, the video conferencing platform that became popular during the pandemic The scope of the movement is better understood with a specific piece of information: the CNRS will replace your Zoom licenses with Visio at the end of March for its 34,000 employees and the 120,000 researchers associated with its research units. American solutions are thus beginning to lose ground in France, as has already happened in other countries. Denmark moves towards LibreOffice and Munich opted for Linux for years, although in this last case the path was not linear and ended with a partial return to Microsoft due to compatibility problems. These types of strategies, extrapolated to other attempts to promote sovereign alternatives, are not without obstacles either. It is worth remembering that open source does not automatically guarantee quality or pace of evolution. When maintenance, auditing, and development fall to a limited number of actors, product progress can slow down. Pointing out these tensions does not invalidate the approach, but it does help to understand its real complexity. Furthermore, the debate is not limited to public services. In a hypothetical decoupling of American platforms, ordinary users could also be affected. Some people, like our colleague Jose Garcíahave chosen to start a process of technological emancipation with respect to the United Statesa path that is not without friction. After years of moving in an ecosystem dominated by North American Big Tech, getting out of it requires time, sacrifices and assuming new limitations. Images | Government of France | Mika Baumeister | Yoyus sugiharto In Xataka | France and Germany have created a “European Notion” with a very simple objective: depend less on the United States

While France freezes, Greece is at 27ºC in the middle of January

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While Spain was preparing to live the coldest Twelfth Night in 40 years and Western Europe collapsed in the face of a cold and snow stormthere are parts of Europe and the Mediterranean basin that They are practically in summer. And no, it is not a figure of speech: during last nightthere were people on the Greek island of Crete sleeping with air conditioning. What has happened? “35 degrees in Algeria, 20 in Russia, tropical nights in Greece, records throughout the central and eastern Mediterranean from Algeria to Turkey (with the only exception of Italy)”, said M. Herrerameteorologist specialized in extreme events. But what is striking is not the description, what is striking is what it means. Because the map that heads this article is not one of absolute temperatures, but of anomalies. And that can obviously distort the matter a bit. However, the absolutes (with data from the Greek National Observatory in Athens in hand) are amazing: we are talking about 27.5 degrees last night in Falasarma and 25.3 in Neapolis. At night. That is, we are talking about temperatures similar to those of August. Or worse because, indeed, we are in January (as the rest of Europe is suffering) The warmest night in Europe while part of the continent remains isolated under snow? It seems so. And not only because of the specific data (it is possible that the record for the warmest night in Greece will not be surpassed: Falasarna suffered one night at 28.3 in 2021), but because but because the heat is as widespread as snow in the West. We have seen night temperatures of 16 °C in Sevastopol (Crimea) and 13 in Tuapse (Russia). Furthermore, if everything continues as expected, there will be nights at 20°C in the Russian Caucasus and above 25°C in Turkmenistan and the Caspian coast. A real madness that, If Herrera is rightwill go down in the climatic annals of the continent. The image of a Europe divided in two is tremendous. But the question is why. And the answer is simple: an extremely wavy ‘jet stream’. We already know that the jet ripples, but rarely can you see an ‘S’ of this size. While in the west the atmospheric circulation introduces arctic air; In the east, a gigantic ridge favors south-southwest winds. The wavy structure of the jet is pumping polar air into France and Saharan air into Greece. Then local effects exaggerate the anomaly. In Spain, for example, thermal inversions place us at -14 degrees, while in Crete the subsidence causes extremely hot and dry air. Image | Tropical TidBits In Xataka | Neither another Filomena nor a miscalculation: the “apocalypse” of snow and cold that awaited us for Reyes is going to be much less so

In a gesture of incalculable Frenchness, France has named the first rocket launched from its borders “Baguette One”

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The Spanish Miura 1 rocket took off from southern Spain. He french rocket Baguette One will do the same next year from the south of France. It’s not a joke. It is the real name of the next bet of the European New Space. And it is very serious: the French company HyPrSpace has just closed an agreement to launch an experiment on board, confirming that the launch will take place from mainland France: something unprecedented in the civil sector. Traditionally, France launches its missions from the Kourou Spaceport in French Guiana. However, the Baguette One will take off from Europe. The suborbital rocket, about 10 meters high (slightly lower than the Miura 1), will take off from the Biscarrosse missile testing center, in the Landes department, thanks to an agreement with the French Directorate General of Armaments. You already have a client. The little rocket will not go empty. HyPrSpace has signed a memorandum of understanding with ATMOS Space Cargo to launch a demonstration mission. The German space logistics company will take advantage of the suborbital flight to test its Phoenix-2 reentry capsule. The French startup HyPrSpace, based in Bordeaux, is developing Baguette One as a preliminary step to validate the technologies of its future commercial rocket Orbital Baguette One. The project has just closed a financing round of 21 million euros from private funds. They are added to the 35 million that HyPrSpace had secured from the France 2030 public plan. Orbital Baguette One. The OB-1 will follow the Baguette One with a first launch scheduled for the end of 2027. This microlauncher promises to put between 200 and 250 kg into orbit with low prices as its main attraction. Instead of using pure liquid or solid fuel engines, HyPrSpace (short for Hybrid Propulsion for Space) will use a mixture: solid fuel made from recycled plastic and liquid oxygen as an oxidizer. The advantage of this architecture is that it eliminates turbopumps, one of the most expensive and complex pieces of aerospace engineering, which reduces the cost of the launcher by 40%. The disadvantage is that they are less versatile engines and without the possibility of reuse, something that PLD Space does plan for future versions of the Miura 5. Image | HyPrSpace In Xataka | The only photo you need to understand the scale of what Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ company, has just done

Spain, France and Germany could not depend on the “button” of the F-35. So the future European fighter aims for something else

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In the month of September the future European fighter in which Spain participates began to disfigure publicly. Germany threatened to open FCAS to new partners if there was no agreement with France, while Spain joined Berlin with Indra and, on the opposite sidewalk, a continental bet appeared, the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) that brought together Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan around a different philosophy. Now, in a new twist of the script, the European fighter is aiming for something else. An overflowing program. He Future Combat Air System (FCAS), conceived in 2017 as Europe’s great bet to build the combat air ecosystem of the second half of the 21st century and put aside the american dependencyis going through its crisis deeper. Germany and France, political and industrial drivers of the project, they study abandoning the most symbolic piece (the new generation fighter) to take refuge in its only still viable element: the combat clouda command and control network based on artificial intelligence capable of integrating manned aircraft, swarms of drones, radars, sensors and naval and land systems in the same operational environment. The shift does not seem like a simple technical reorientation, but rather a tacit recognition that the differences between Airbus and Dassault Aviation They have reached a point of no return. At a time when Europe wants to demonstrate strategic autonomy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the largest military program of the continent is at risk of fracturing due to the inability of its two main contractors to share responsibilities, cede control and coordinate incompatible industrial visions. The Airbus-Dassault divorce. The conflict between Dassault and Airbus it’s not recentbut it has now reached an intensity that makes advancing the fighter impossible. Dassault, creator of the Rafale and a family-owned company, demands total authority on the design of the aircraft and selection of suppliers. For its part, Airbus (which represents Germany and part of Spain) considers that a European project of this magnitude should be governed by a balanced distribution of work. Negotiations have been stalled for years, with each party accusing the other of breaking agreements. While Dassault threatens to continue alone because “it has all the necessary experience”, the temptation to replace France grows in Berlin through the United Kingdom or Swedentwo partners who already participate in the rival Tempest program. The result is a vicious circle: without trust, there is no cooperation, without cooperation, there is no plane, and without plane, the FCAS becomes an empty shell supported only by the idea. from combat cloud. FCAS The German temptation and the French dilemma. The pressure is not symmetrical. Germany, which has relaxed its spending limit to rearm on a large scaledoes not want to be held hostage by a French company that is blocking progress. According to the Financial Timesin the environment of Chancellor Friedrich Merz an increasingly clear message is heard: if collaboration does not work, Berlin has the resources to continue without Paris. France, for its part, shows caution: its nuclear deterrent It depends on the replacement of the Rafale starting in the next decade, and an abrupt divorce could delay a key system for its strategic security. Although Macron hoped to rebuild trust after years of disagreements, even French voices admit that the project is “immobilized and almost dead,” and that the only real way out is through direct intervention by the president on Éric Trappier, the powerful CEO of Dassault. Combat Cloud The combat cloud as a strategic refuge. Just because the plane stalls doesn’t mean FCAS is meaningless. The most transformative piece of the program is not the fighter, but the AI-based distributed command and control system: a combat cloud european that allows any platform (Rafale, Eurofighter, long-range drones, naval sensors or ground radars) to share data in real time. This system, developed by Airbus (Germany), Thales (France) and Indra (Spain), is the only thing that everyone agrees on: Europe can (co)live with several planes, but not with incompatible networks that depend entirely on the American technological umbrella as was the case with the F-35. That is why it is proposed to accelerate the entry into service from the cloud to 2030a decade ahead of schedule, and armor it as a common pillar even if the joint fighter disappears. For many European countries, having their own cloud is the only way to guarantee that, if Washington one day looks the other way, the continent’s armies can operate in a cohesive and autonomous manner. Failure with implications. If he FCAS collapsesit will not just be an industrial setback, but a devastating geopolitical message. Europe has been proclaiming its desire for military autonomy for years, but every time it tries to create its own capabilities it runs into problems. same obstacles: competition between nations, political misgivings, absence of common governance and divergent priorities. This crisis also comes at a critical moment, when the war in Ukraine has demonstrated that technological superiority it is played onlinethat reaction time is vital and that Western systems must interoperate seamlessly. That the largest European defense project could collapse for corporate disputes shows the extent to which the dream of an integrated defense continues to depend on fragile foundations. What is played in a few weeks. The Financial Times recalled that the calendar is tight. Paris, Berlin and Madrid must decide before the end of the year whether to finance the airplane demonstration, an investment of several billion that no one wants to approve while the project remains blocked. The meetings between the French minister Catherine Vautrin, her German counterpart Boris Pistorius, Merz and Macron will be decisive: or the FCAS is redefined around to combat cloud or formally disintegrates. Everyone repeats that the Franco-German bilateral relationship should not be damaged, but the reality is that companies have carried out the program to the limit. The FCAS was born to symbolize defense Europe, but today only the combat cloud keeps that symbol alive as the last possible bridge between two industries that no longer … Read more

The best-selling car in Spain is the Dacia Sandero. And we are teaming up with France to defend the jump to electric cars

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Rarely can it be said that France and Spain are teaming up to achieve the same objective. At the same time They torpedo themselves as much as they can on the high speed railway or what they face each other directly because of the energetic connectionsthe electric car seems to have united the two countries. At the same time that the European Union seems to be cracking regarding its positions on the electric car, France and Spain have not hesitated in positioning itself to defend possible modifications to a regulation led by Germany. The Germans are pushing to open the door to combustion engines and countries like Italy seem convinced that it is the way to go. However, from Spain we have put many efforts to electrify our industrywe are embracing a good part of the models that should power Europeans in the coming years. France has also done everything possible to embrace the technology that, until recently, almost all of Europe defended as the best for the future. What is being played? The eternal and convoluted European bureaucracy In 2023, European countries They voted to ban combustion engines from 2035. The ban left almost any technology that did not rely on electric or hydrogen out of play. First of all, we must understand what the European Union roadmap is. The plan is to drastically reduce the volume of emissions from heavy and light transport. Among the measures proposed, 2025 should be the year from which manufacturers would receive a fine of 95 euros for each car sold and for each gram of CO2/km exceeded in their average emissions at the end of the year. This has not been fulfilled and the manufacturers, who They expected billion-dollar fineswill be accountable in 2027 taking as reference the average emissions for the period 2025-2027. That is, if everything remains the same, whoever does not comply in this year 2025 must compensate in the coming years. From 2030, the emissions limit is drastically reduced. The 49.5 gr/km of CO2 raised They leave any car with a combustion engine that is not highly electrified in the lurch. In fact, with the changes approved for plug-in hybrids, their sale is not a great guarantee when it comes to lowering emissions. Reducing these involves, yes or yes, selling electric cars. And when 2035 arrives, cars with combustion engines that emit CO2 will not be able to be sold. This is important. The original wording spoke of “polluting emissions” and was finally changed to “CO2 emissions”. This makes sense because a fuel cell car can generate some polluting emissions in its electrolysis process but does not emit CO2. The first draft left everything that was not electric out of the market. Finally, it was approved that cars with combustion engines will be prohibited from emitting CO2. But also the door was left open to e-fuels or synthetic fuels. These fuels trap CO2 for their production, so it is considered that the emissions produced in the engine are being compensated. Europe still has to debate whether to finally approve the proposal that would allow these cars to be sold. The intention is that, if approved, these cars They will only be able to circulate with e-fuels and they must have sensors to prevent them from operating with traditional fuels or a mixture of synthetic and traditional fuels. But, in addition, the 2023 approval in which the ban on selling cars with combustion engines was confirmed already included the obligation to present a report before December 31, 2026 by the European Commission reporting on the progress that was being made. This report has been brought forward to 2025 and it is being studied. It will depend on him whether, finally, any type of modification is carried out. Europe divided Faced with this situation, Europe is divided. Despite the votes and the fact that the regulations should be firm, countries such as Germany and Italy and manufacturers are pushing for the current ban on combustion engines not to be maintained as drafted in 2035. Spain and France have presented a document in which they reaffirm their position in defense of the current prohibitions. This comes after the European Commission confirmed that will advance the review at the end of this year of the current state of the regulations, which can open the door to modifications and more lax regulations. In it document They reject favoring the use of plug-in hybrids since they consider that they emit more polluting particles than those reflected in the current tests and assure that “subterfuges should not be enabled that allow us to escape the ‘zero emissions’ objective for 2035”, in words collected by EFE. The document is, as we said, the response to the pressure that countries like Germany and Italy are exerting. The Germans have even asked, directly, that the ban on selling cars with combustion engines be eliminated. They assure that allowing synthetic fuels will leave us with “cleaner mobility”. Italy is the other big obstacle that the French and Spanish are encountering. Since Giorgia Meloni came to power has pointed out the regulations as wrong already approved that should prohibit the sale of engines that generate CO2. Like France and Spain, Germany and Italy also go hand in hand but in this case they have signed a document in which they consider that the current emissions regulations contemplate “disproportionate penalties.” And here comes what can change everything. In Germany and Italy they believe that the volume of emissions must be taken into account “throughout the entire value chain or through the use of renewable fuels.” That is, each brand should be analyzed taking into account how many emissions it produces not only during the burning of the fuel in its engines, but also during its production. The final objective seems clear: if the manufacturer saves on emissions during its production, the engines should have room to expel that CO2 that the brand is already compensating during its production. That is, … Read more

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