European Commission reacts to outage: “Nothing allows us to say there is sabotage or cyberattack”

The European Commission (EC) said on Monday afternoon that “at the moment, there is nothing that allows us to say that the power outage affecting Spain and Portugal is due to “any kind of sabotage or cyberattack.” 

In a statement to the press, Vice President of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera, confirmed that the institution is currently working in coordination with the Spanish and Portuguese authorities to restore power services “as soon as possible.”

“We are following the situation,” said Ribera, admitting that it is one of “the most serious” power outage episodes "recorded in Europe for a long time."

The vice president also asked the people affected to be “patient” and “follow the instructions” that the civil services send out.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EC, said in a post on social media X that she reached out to the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, to offer support and to coordinate the efforts to restore power.  

“We will coordinate efforts and share information to restore the electricity system, and agreed to stay in close contact.”