One of this year’s focal points of the OPEN DAYS – European Week of Regions and Cities event in Brussels, is “Modernising Europe: the regions in the Energy Union and the single digital market”. Within this context, we interviewed the EU’s Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Crețu and the President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), Markku Markkula, about their visions of the Energy Union project and their involvement. The OPEN DAYS, created in 2003, is an annual four-day event occurring in October, during which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs. Corina Crețu: “Cohesion Policy will play a strong role in delivering the Energy Union on the ground” The EU is ‘going regional’ on many fronts. As a member of the Energy Union project team, what is your vision of this union, and how can regional policy support its creation – not only as a legal, but also as an infrastructural entity? The Energy Union, one of the Commission's priorities, aims in particular to modernise and expand Europe's energy infrastructure and crossborder interconnection networks to ensure the competitiveness of our economy, the sustainable development of the energy sector and the security of energy supply. In February, 2015, we adopted a framework strategy for a resilient Energy Union with a forward-looking climate change policy. It aims to reduce energy dependency, promote the free flow of energy across borders, and support the transition to a low-carbon economy. In line with this strategy, our investments will help decrease energy imports, especially through increased energy efficiency, diversify our energy sources, tackle energy poverty and [...]
In a few words
We represent the widely understood Central Europe energy sector (electricity generation, distribution and transmission, renewables, gas, oil, heat generation and distribution, chemical industries, etc.), universities and scientific institutions.
