“I would like you to note that I’m not wearing a tie,” a grinning Mr Sánchez said as he showed the open collar of his shirt during a press conference in Madrid.

“This means that we can all save from an energy point of view”, he continued, adding that he had asked his ministers and heads of administrations to do the same and called on the private sector to imitate them. .

“If you haven’t already, I would like you not to wear a tie when it is not necessary”, he launched to the address of the corporate world. “This is also how we can contribute to the energy savings that are so necessary in our country,” he concluded.

The head of government usually wears a suit and tie during his public engagements, especially during press conferences.

He also announced that the government would adopt Monday in the Council of Ministers “a set of urgent measures” to save energy, “in line with what other European countries are doing”. He did not provide details.

Spain has taken several measures recently to reduce its energy bill as part of efforts called for by Brussels to end Europe’s dependence on Russian gas.

Telework by civil servants is thus encouraged in order to limit air conditioning in public buildings and the thermostat of air conditioners must not be positioned below 27 degrees, so that the air conditioning of offices is done with “less energy consumption”, according to an “energy efficiency plan” published at the end of May in the Official Journal.

In the same way, the radiators will not be able to heat more than 19 degrees in winter.

In response to the war in Ukraine, the European Commission presented a 210 billion euro plan in mid-May providing for the development of renewable energies and significant energy savings in order to free ourselves “as quickly as possible” from imports of Russian gas.

The Twenty-Seven also adopted on Tuesday a plan by which they undertake to do “everything (their) possible” to reduce their gas consumption by at least 15% between August 2022 and March 2023, compared to the average for last five years over the same period.