The Spanish Government has once again suffered a new judicial setback in the United States due to the renewable energy dispute. The latest setback has come from the District Court of Columbia, which has issued a new enforceable resolution of the ICSID arbitration award filed against Spain, in relation to the retroactive cuts to renewable energies and specifically linked to the “Watkins case.” This procedure is in the execution phase after the ruling of September 2025, which recognized the international award and ordered the Government to pay 93 million euros – the 77 million of the original sentence plus late payment interest, costs orders and other additional obligations -, agreeing with the creditors.
The Executive of Pedro Sánchez, through the State Attorney’s Office, has attempted to suspend the execution of the sentence and annul the information requirements and judicial notifications sent by creditors to entities and organizations that maintain economic relations with the State. However, the court has concluded that a reasonable period of time has passed since the conviction without Spain having made payment or providing guarantees, which enables creditors to initiate embargo measures on assets of the Spanish State in US territory. Likewise, the resolution authorizes plaintiffs to register the judgment in any judicial district of the United States, allowing enforcement to be expanded nationwide and facilitating the identification of assets in multiple jurisdictions.
Thanks to this ruling, the affected companies are already announcing that they are going to activate a procedure to track assets that affect the operations of the Spanish soccer team in the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The transactions maintained with Adidas, Hilton, Baylor School or FIFA are now in the sights of creditors, who can proceed to claim the embargo of said payment or collection operations, “thus blocking the ability of the Spanish State to continue acting without consequences after a large number of defaults and non-payments,” judicial sources reported.
The court expressly supports the use of asset tracing mechanisms, including the issuance of judicial notifications to financial entities, companies and third parties with economic relations with Spain, in line with the broad scope of the discovery process in US procedural law.
In its resolution, the Court rejects the Government’s arguments based on the alleged impossibility of payment derived from European Union law, as well as the existence of pending appeals, pointing out that “none of these factors justifies the suspension of execution.” This decision represents a decisive step in the international execution phase of renewable energy awards, by allowing creditors to advance from the identification of assets to their eventual seizure and effective realization for the collection of judicially recognized compensation.
Furthermore, Spain is denied “the possibility of stopping information requirements and judicial notifications sent to third parties with whom it maintains economic relations.” Along the same lines, “new similar procedures are authorized, which are aimed at tracking assets to undertake their seizure and compensate creditors.” Likewise, the court has decreed that Spain will continue to be considered “a debtor country, denying the claims of sovereign immunity and emphasizing that sufficient time has passed to comply with outstanding payment obligations.” Finally, the perimeter of these possible measures is extended to the entire territory of the United States.
Spain already faces a bill of 2.3 billion euros derived from the international conflict over cuts to renewable energies approved more than a decade ago. A million-dollar debt that continues to grow due to interest, legal costs and new sentences in foreign courts, and that threatens to translate into seizures of public assets in different countries.