The European Commission has taken note of the plans of gas undertakings to build Nord Stream 2. If built, Nord Stream 2 would have to fully comply, as any other infrastructure project, with applicable EU law, including on energy and environment. In May 2014, the European Commission set out in its Energy Security Strategy how the EU remains vulnerable to external energy shocks. It called on policy makers at national and EU level to diversify and reduce our dependency on particular fuels, energy suppliers and routes. The Energy Union builds on this strategy. Energy security, solidarity and trust constitute a key dimension of our framework strategy of 25 February 2015. The key drivers of energy security remain the completion of the internal energy market and more efficient energy consumption. But events over the past years have also shown that diversification of energy sources, suppliers and routes are crucial for ensuring secure and resilient energy supplies to European citizens and companies. More transparency and solidarity between the Member States are equally important. At the same time, the EU's energy security is closely linked with its neighbours. It is in this spirit, that on 16 February of this year, the European Commission presented its Security of Supply Package, which responded to many calls of this house. I believe that this package sends a strong signal that we are building a secure and resilient Energy Union, based on competition and cooperation for the benefit of EU citizens and companies. Let me just recall that the package proposes a revised Security of Gas Supply Regulation, an LNG and storage strategy, changes to the [...]
As a representative of a key player in European gas transmission, how would you define the continent’s major challenges in this field? Key challenges in the current European midstream market lie in dealing with continuous changes in the patterns of natural gas flow, in reaction to the commissioning of largescale projects like Nord Stream. A very important step in this process was, inter-alia, implementation of the physical reverse flow possibilities in the countries in Central Europe, which currently, enables natural gas to be delivered to Southern Europe, via the Nord Stream and OPAL pipelines, utilising physical reverse flow, via the Czech and Slovak systems, or reverse flow deliveries to Ukraine. Possibilities of this kind are still not available in the Balkan region, which faces high import dependency on a single natural gas source and transmission route. High dependency on such a level is certainly the biggest problem of the natural gas segment of the SEE countries. Security of gas and energy supplies is high on the European agenda. What steps – in terms of legislation – should be undertaken to achieve considerable progress in this matter? After the natural gas crisis in 2009, security of energy supplies became the key priority of the EU’s energy policy. Focus is applied, mainly to the development of new infrastructure, which is able to enhance energy security, in the most impacted regions. In this respect, EU legislation, oriented on identification and support of Projects of Common Interest is very helpful, however, we are of the opinion, that legislation should be stricter, to prohibit development of infrastructure, which is aimed at the bypassing of [...]
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.
