After its successful first edition last year, the German-Polish Energy Forum continued the dialogue between key decision-makers from both countries on March the 23rd , in Berlin, addressing common challenges and opportunities in the field of energy policy. The discussion confirmed that the interaction of energy and environmental policies is perceived as increasingly relevant for the sustainable preservation of our prosperity and security. As large neighbouring countries at the very heart of Europe, Germany and Poland share a responsibility to find answers to the emerging challenges that both experience. The Presidents of major Trade Associations of the two countries, Hildegard Müller (German Association of the Energy and Water Industry) and Andrzej Malinowski (Employers of Poland), opened the event by highlighting the growing importance of the energy sector for the competitiveness of their economies. Both pointed to the high potential of bilateral co-operation when it comes to the creation of a European Energy Union and the management of external uncertainties. A panel discussion on the consequences of implementing European climate policies in Germany and Poland, moderated by Ambassador Janusz Reiter, Chairman of the Board for the Centre of International Relations in Poland, gave an insight into the different stances of the participants, with respect to a balance between reaching set CO2 targets and the implications for their economies’ competitiveness. During the panel session, Waldemar Pawlak, Member of Parliament in Poland and former Polish Prime Minister , expressed his concern that an aggressive decarbonisation would critically harm the Polish economy. He added that a modernisation of existing facilities would be a far less aggressive intervention into the market than the German [...]
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.
