Blackout: European Commission has no evidence of cyberattack

European Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera said today that there was currently no evidence of a cyberattack in the massive power outage in the Iberian Peninsula, but spoke of “one of the biggest system failures” in the European Union (EU).

“We are not ruling anything out at the moment, but there is no evidence of any kind of cybersecurity issue. We are monitoring everything and the main priority is, of course, to restore the electricity system and assess and understand what happened,” Teresa Ribera, the EU executive responsible for Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition, told reporters in Brussels.

According to the official, this was “one of the biggest failures in the electrical system that has occurred in recent years” in the EU.

Teresa Ribera said she was “monitoring what is happening” and in “close contact with the Spanish and Portuguese authorities, as well as with the different services of the Commission”, in a situation that, according to her, only affects the Iberian Peninsula and, perhaps by extension, perhaps a small part of the south of France.

“For now, what I can say is that we have to be prudent and patient so that the system can be reestablished as quickly as possible,” he appealed.

According to Teresa Ribera, “in the case of Portugal, [the national authorities] disconnected its electrical system from the Spanish system in order to recover it little by little”.

These statements by Ribera come after the European Commission said it was in contact with the authorities in Portugal and Spain and with the European network of operators to understand the cause and impact of the massive cut in electricity supply in the Iberian Peninsula.

“We are in contact with the national authorities of Portugal and Spain, as well as with ENTSO-E [European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity] to understand the underlying cause and impact of the situation,” an official source from the community executive told the Lusa news agency.

“The Commission will continue to monitor the situation and ensure that the exchange of information between all relevant parties proceeds smoothly,” the same official source added.

Brussels also recalled that there are “protocols to restore the functioning of the system”, as provided for in Community legislation regarding emergency and restoration networks.

This morning, at 11:30 in Lisbon, several cities from north to south of Portugal were hit by a power outage, which has not yet been restored and which also affected countries such as Spain and France.

Plans for the phased restoration of energy supply are being activated.