- Madrid’s regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso has vowed city will not turn off lights
- Spanish cabinet ordered shops and public buildings to turn off their lights by 10pm and temperature limits
- European leaders are scrambling to save energy as Russia cuts off gas supplies
Madrid’s regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso, a maverick populist who refused to implement Covid-19 restrictions during the pandemic, has squared up to the Spanish government yet again, this time on EU-wide energy saving measures.
Ayuso has vowed that ‘Madrid will not switch off’ after the Spanish cabinet approved measures requiring shops and public buildings to turn off lights by 10pm each night.
The head of the central region, one of Spain’s wealthiest, said the measures would ‘generate insecurity and scare away tourism and consumption’.
The plan, which includes temperature limits for businesses, museums and public transport as well as restrictions on street lighting, was approved after the European Union agreed on July 26 to cut gas use by 15 per cent from August to March to save up for an uncertain winter threatened by supply cuts from Russia.
EU states are desperately trying to find ways to cut their energy use before winter arrives, after Russia began throttling gas supplies to the continent.