Ignacio Galán calls on Europe for “long-term” strategies and not “last-minute” decisions

The Executive Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán, has called on the European political authorities to develop "long-term" energy strategies, as opposed to "last-minute" decisions, to give the sector the "predictability and stability" it needs to make investments.

Galán was speaking at the International Energy Policy Forum 2025, organised by the British newspaper Financial Times, in Brussels, and whose speakers also included Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency; Dan Jørgensen, European Commissioner for Energy and Housing; Irene Heemskerk, head of the ECB’s Climate Change Centre; Kristian Ruby, Secretary General of Eurelectric, and Ann Mettler, Vice-President for Europe of Breakthrough Energy.

"Our investment decisions are made with 40 or 60-year time frames. We cannot live in an environment where decisions are made depending on last-minute problems and circumstances", the Chairman said. "We need predictability, stability, the rule of law and an environment in which we can easily do our job".

Throughout his speech, Ignacio Galán argued for greater energy autonomy for Europe, as opposed to dependence on third parties and natural gas, which undermines the continent’s competitiveness. In this regard, he pointed to electrification as a solution, which he said is "unstoppable" in Europe, where there is an "enormous demand waiting to be connected" to the grid; but "for that it is necessary to provide access to an infrastructure that is sufficiently large, strong and reliable". In the same way, he insisted that the renewables sector requires "a stable and predictable framework" and warned that, "if the rules change because of any political situation, the money will go elsewhere".

Galán emphasised that renewables are efficient and competitive and that they "allow for energy autonomy". For this reason, "we must invest in networks, renewables and storage", because electrification in Europe means security, independence and self-sufficiency.

Galán considered that Europe has "a structural problem", due to the lack of gas reserves. "Countries that have them start from a competitive advantage. The more gas we import, the less competitive we will be."

"Europe wants to be more competitive. Europe wants to be number 1", but "we have to be convinced that this is a must", he said. "Europe doesn’t want to be just a destination for holidays and beautiful monuments—we want to be an industrial and technological hub, an attractive region for young people".

He also stressed the importance of decarbonisation as a synonym for self-sufficiency, the need to be independent from third parties in terms of energy and the duty to promote local industry and the value chain. In this sense, he argued that it is "crucial" that Europe "maintains its current capacities" and promotes new ones to reduce its dependence on the outside.

Regarding Donald Trump’s new US administration, he pointed out that Iberdrola has been in the country for more than 20 years and has invested 45 billion dollars, and recalled that during the President’s first term in the White House, the company "continued to invest in renewables and networks".

In any case, he repeated, the bulk of the business in the country, the networks, depends on the regulation of the States and not of the federal Government, adding that it is necessary to wait to see if Trump decides to continue with the "support plans" for the sector or not. With regard to renewables, he said that the main customers are large companies such as Amazon, Google and Apple, which demand clean electricity.

Watch the video of the forum ‘Building the green economy of Europe. How can the energy transition boost growth and cohesion?’.