New economic and reputational blow for the Spanish State in the United Kingdom for its resistance to compensating renewable energy companies. A British court has ordered the seizure of 800,000 euros in four state accounts in the United Kingdom that the Cervantes Institute had until now in that country.
The judicial decision has been adopted by the High Court of Justice of England and Wales and is signed by Judge Richard Harold Davison. Thus, he agrees with the Blaskett group that is trying to collect funds from State assets in the United Kingdom when the Government refuses to execute an award won by this entity from Spain due to the downward change in the subsidies provided to investors in renewables.
The decision to alter the aid framework was taken by the previous Government of Mariano Rajoy to contain the tariff deficit inherited from the Zapatero precedent and the current one of Pedro Sánchez is refusing to pay for the lost lawsuits, claiming protection from the European Union.
This judicial decision, which has already been notified to the State Attorney’s Office, joins other partial victories by Blaskett, who has a process underway to seize the Cervantes Institute’s own headquarters in the United Kingdom and another office of the Generalitat of Catalonia that The judge also considers property of the Kingdom of Spain. These processes have not affected the activity of both Spanish institutions so far, but this seizure of accounts could damage their liquidity. The judge also orders to notify the president of the Government himself, Pedro Sánchez, and the ministers Teresa Ribera and José Manuel Albares of the decision.
The accumulated balance in the four accounts that has been intervened by the British justice system amounts to €805,808 euros (£699,057.49 pounds sterling), according to Blaskett’s lawyers.
This process is linked to the Infrared case, which defeated Spain in a process channeled in the ICSID, the World Bank’s arbitration court. This litigation began in 2014 and came to an end in August 2019, when an award was published that was confirmed in March 2021.
The complaint claimed compensation of €75.7 million euros, which was reduced to €28.2 million euros once the final sentence was known. Blaskett is trying to collect through seizures in the United Kingdom.
This pulse is added to the fact that the British courts have authorized the precautionary seizure of compensation for the Prestige disaster, valued at 900 million.
In parallel to these collection attempts, Blaskett considers that “four Spanish public debt securities were seized and the clause that places Spain in a situation of technical default was invoked.” The Ministry downplays its importance.