Blackout blocks Spain and Portugal, “but no hacking attacks reported at the moment”

Brussels – Shortly after noon, Spain, Portugal, and southern France were hit by a maxi electrical blackout, leaving airports, communication networks, and transportation without power. French authorities explained that, in fact, only parts of the French Basque Country lost power for no more than ten minutes, but in the Peninsula, the problem persists, and technical services say it will probably be necessary to wait until at least 10 p.m. before power is restored.

The Portuguese authorities have announced that “there are currently no signs of hacker attacks.” This has also been confirmed by the President of the European Council, Portugal’s Antonio Costa, who spoke with the prime ministers of the two Iberian countries. “There is no indication that the blackout was caused deliberately,” said European Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera in Brussels, according to El País.

According to El País, the governments of Spain and Portugal are investigating the outages with various technical teams from different ministries. However, there is still no official explanation as to what happened. The National Institute for Information Security (INCIBE) is also investigating the situation in case it is a cyber attack, although it has not yet reached a conclusion. The blackouts affected communications, airports, and high-speed transportation networks in both Spain and Portugal. Traffic lights and shopping centers were also affected. Blackouts are also widespread in Portugal. Lisbon’s airport is in serious trouble, as are those in Spain, but operations have not stopped. According to El País, the Canary and Balearic Islands have not been affected.

Metro service in Madrid is disrupted, and so is that of Seville. The traffic lights in the streets have gone out, and citizens are advised not to go out or drive their cars. The Farnesina urges compatriots “not to leave homes and offices and also to avoid travel by car due to the power outage at traffic light installations.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Red Eléctrica Control Center in the morning and convened the National Security Council in the afternoon. France is providing about 500 MW of electricity to the Spanish grid, while the Ukrainian government offered its experience “with repeated Russian attacks on our power plants.”

The European People’s Party’s two-day Congress begins tomorrow in Valencia, and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to attend.