Spain, Portugal cleared to manage own electricity prices - EU's von der Leyen

BRUSSELS - EU leaders have given Spain and Portugal a special permission to manage their own electricity prices, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.

The EU executive chief said this was possible because the two countries had a relatively high share of renewables in their energy mix and very few interconnections to other parts of the EU grid.

"We agreed on a special treatment that is possible for the Iberian peninsula so that the Iberian peninsula can deal with this very specific situation they are in and manage the electricity prices," von der Leyen told a news conference after a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.