Portugal asks EU for an independent audit on the causes of the blackout

Portuguese Prime Minister, Luis Montenegro, announced Tuesday that they will request an independent commission from the EU, aimed at carrying out an audit of the electricity systems in the affected countries, to determine the causes of the blackout that affected the Iberian Peninsula on Monday.

Following a Council of Ministers, Montenegro stated that "recovery has been faster in Portugal than in Spain," and noted that they need "answers as soon as possible" about the incident.

The Portuguese prime minister, said there is commitment and disposition with the European bodies to "draw all the conclusions about the causes and the answers to what happened."

Portugal also wants another independent technical commission to evaluate at the national level "the mechanisms of reaction and management of this crisis."

Portugal considers that the blackout originated in Spain

The Portuguese government on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack. The spokesman of the Executive, Antonio Leitano Amaro, reiterated in an interview with CNN Portugal that what happened in Portugal was the fruit of a "problem in the transport network" for electricity in Spain.

On Monday night, Luis Montenegro had already stated at a press conference: "The widespread outage of our power grid was caused outside Portugal, probably in Spain".

Montenegro also praised the country's response to a situation that he described as "severe, unprecedented and unexpected."

In Spain, the government and the judiciary are investigating whether the blackout was the result of "computer sabotage"

Despite Red Eléctrica Española ruling out a cyberattack, favoring the hypothesis of a generation failure, the Audiencia Nacional, a specialized Spanish court, announced Tuesday an investigation to determine whether the blackout was the product of "computer sabotage," which could constitute "terrorist crime."

The Spanish government, also announced Tuesday that they will investigate the causes of the massive blackout that occurred Monday.

"The necessary measures will be taken so that this does not happen again," guaranteed the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, at a press conference, when informing of the creation of a commission of investigation captained by the Ministry for Ecological Transition.