Blackout: Spain and Portugal largely without electricity

The Portuguese cabinet convened an emergency meeting at the Prime Minister's residence, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the electricity company Red Eléctrica to monitor efforts to restore grid operations.

France was also temporarily affected by the blackout. The electricity grid operator RTE reported that households in the French part of the Basque Country were without power for several minutes. However, the supply has since been restored.

The massive power outage concerned not only companies and authorities, but also the EU Commission. The Commission is in contact with the authorities in Spain and Portugal "to understand the cause and impact of the situation," a spokeswoman in Brussels said.