Workshop Proceedings on the "EU-Eastern European Partners Cooperation in Energy Security : Achievements, Barriers and Prospects"

Analiză aprofundată 26-10-2012

The workshop ‘EU-Eastern European Partners cooperation in energy security: achievements, barriers and prospects’, organised under the patronage of the EURONEST Assembly’s Committee on Energy Security and the AFET Committee, took place on 19 September 2012 in the European Parliament. The workshop aimed at facilitating exchanges of views on policies and initiatives for energy cooperation within the Eastern Partnership. Four sets of issues were discussed: the current landscape of the EU-Eastern partners’ energy cooperation and the potential for development; the integration and interconnection of energy markets; the development of infrastructures and the diversification of routes; and the prospects of energy cooperation under the Eastern Partnership. Energy is an area of strategic importance in the context of the Eastern Partnership (EaP). Energy cooperation between the EU and its Eastern partners has inter alia developed under Platform 3 of the EaP’s multilateral track. Although energy situations, needs and policies are diverse, including amongst the six Eastern partners, there is substantial complementarity between the EU and its partners and therefore scope for enhanced cooperation. In particular, energy security is a key challenge both to the Union and partner countries. As underlined in the discussion, the response to this challenge is multifaceted. Participants stressed that the EU and Eastern partners share the objective of ensuring a sustainable, secure and affordable energy. Building up a pan-European, well-regulated and transparent energy market is critical in light of this objective. The EU has engaged in developing a well-functioning internal energy market. At the same time, energy challenges call for both increased cooperation with, and a coherent approach vis-à-vis Eastern partners. As emphasised by participants, domestic and external energy policies are therefore tightly interconnected. The Energy Community Treaty is the core reference to int