"It must be clear to everyone, prices will only go down when the war stops and when normality in the supply of fuel is restored. As long as the war continues, as long as there continues to be this price increase in the international market, it is evident that [the price] also goes up in Portugal", António Costa told journalists.

The head of the Portuguese Government was in Paris to inaugurate three exhibitions on Portuguese art in the main French museums, including the Louvre, having been received by Emmanuel Macron for a working lunch at the Élysée Palace, where Europe's energy dependence was one of the addressed topics.

"These measures that we have implemented from a local point of view can mitigate the impact for consumers and families, measures to support companies that are intensive energy consumers can mitigate this increase, but obviously mitigating does not mean eliminating", declared the Prime Minister.

Linking Iberia

To alleviate Europe's dependence on energy from Russia, Portugal and Spain have been proposing for several years interconnections that link the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of the European Union, in terms of gas and renewable energies. These interconnections, according to the Portuguese ruler, no longer have any "political obstacle".

"The EU's position is very clear and what was approved in the Council is that it is necessary to take into account the position of the regulators and the current geopolitical situation to make interconnections viable. There is a lot of technical work to be done, I think the political obstacles are overcome ".