Ms. Adina-Ioana Vălean, a Romanian MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament and a member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), presented during the conference on EU Energy Policy and Competitiveness in Brussels (November 17th) her vision on how to manage inherent costs in order to make energy prices more favourable to business competitiveness,. After the event, she further developed for CEEP Report some of the crucial points. Cristina Dascălu (CD): You said in your presentation that the EU should rely more on the US and less on Russia when it comes to energy imports. “The more the EU looks to the East, the less it is open for the global supply chain”. Can Russia be replaced by the US or others? Adina-Ioana Vălean (AV): The EU should rely on itself and re-orient its energy security strategy. By fully interconnecting its gas grids, by building up LNG hubs in Southern Europe, and by completing the North-South and Southern Gas corridors, we can choose to buy from any supplier on the global market. We should not be in the business of ignoring any country: we should just be able to choose the best prices and the most reliable partners. We can do that only if we have a truly interconnected internal energy market with multiple entry points and reverse flows. Of course, an extended deal on energy trade within the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement – the TTIP, would allow consumers to benefit from the deep discontinuities in price between the American and European markets, and it would allow the EU to build up its long-standing economic [...]
The EU, Ukraine and Russia recently signed a binding short-term protocol for winter that confirms Russian gas deliveries to Ukraine. At stake is Ukraine’s and Europe’s energy security. The Chief Executive Officer of Naftogaz, Andryi Kobolyev, shared with the CEEP team his insights on the brokered deal and what this means for the EU, Ukraine and Russia and what steps need to be taken in the future. CEEP: What’s the exact situation on the ground and what does the signed deal change? Andryi Kobolyev (AC): The situation remains challenging. Russian troops have occupied coal producing territories in southern Donbass, as well as the gas producing region of Crimea. The infrastructure connecting the coal mines in the East with the rest of the country has been deliberately destroyed making Russia the only destination for this fuel. This puts an additional strain on Ukraine’s energy needs and financial requirements this winter. Ukraine’s government has introduced a number of emergency measures to control demand, like setting up limits for industrial consumers and launching financial assistance programmes for energy efficiency projects for households. There is also a massive information campaign for energy efficiency in the country. In addition, tariffs for households have been raised promoting energy saving, although they still do not reflect the market level. We are yet to see the results, but we can say that the consumption levels are falling, even in the regions not affected by the invasion. Notably, we are witnessing that households have started cutting their gas consumption for the first time in years. With the Brussels deal, Naftogaz has secured a security-based supply of gas which [...]
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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.
