The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has rejected Spain’s request for plenary review of three cases related to the registration of arbitration awards issued by the International Center for Dispute Resolution. investments (ICSID) in the country where the country is located. condemned for the reduction in renewable premiums that the government of Mariano Rajoy carried out in 2013 to reduce the tariff deficit in the electricity sector.
In total, there are a total of 25 arbitration awards awaiting payment by Spain, amounting to more than 1,560 million euros, a figure that continues to grow with interest and legal costs, in line with a series of additional financial and legal costs that they add. nearly 330 million to the amount owed.
Concretely, the unanimous vote of the American judiciary means that no judge agreed with the State Attorney’s Office, as legal sources indicated to Europa Press.
The first of the cases examined is linked to NextEra, an American company that Spain must compensate with 290 million euros, in addition to an additional five million in late payment interest.
Another of them refers to 9REN, an investment vehicle based in Luxembourg to which Spain must compensate with 40 million, in addition to 3.5 million in interest; and a third to JGC, for which an additional 23.5 million must be paid, as well as 5.5 million in late payment interest.
This decision, rendered on December 2, puts an end to a procedure initiated by the public prosecutor on February 12 of the same year and marks a new setback for Spain in its attempt to cancel the international recognition of arbitration decisions in its against.
For their part, sources from the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge told Europa Press that the decision of the Court of Appeal is “likely to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States and that this possibility is currently currently being analyzed”.
The Spanish government submitted to these procedures as a signatory of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) when retroactively withdrawing renewable bonuses, which explains the convictions handed down in the courts of the United States, as well as in the courts of Australia, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
The same sources emphasize that the rejection was unanimous, since no judge of the court deemed it necessary to submit any of the three cases analyzed to the full review process requested by Spain. Furthermore, the judgment highlights that even the support of the European Commission as amicus curiae failed to convince the court.
Likewise, they clarified that with this decision, the arbitration awards in favor of investors “are getting closer to their execution in the United States, increasing the pressure on Spain to comply with the payments of a million dollars arising from these disputes.
In the case of JGC, North American courts have already indicated that they will recognize the sentence as their own punishment. Furthermore, similar treatment is expected for the disputes of NextEra and 9REN, as well as for other whistleblowers likely to bring their claims to justice in the United States.
