Towards a European Energy Union

Every Friday, EUMAgazine revivals!

The European Magazine was born in 2013, with the collaboration of six nonprofit organizations from Greece, Hungary, Italy and Romania. Since then, we organized six transnational workshops with the goals of: training citizens on European values, collecting their needs in terms of communication; making citizens more active in the European life; fostering a constructive collaboration.

AUTHOR: Maria Hoff Rudhult

LANGUAGE: English

At the press conference on 6th February 2015, in Riga (Latvia), where the Energy ministers of the EU had met to discuss the future of European energy, the Commissions launched their new initiative: a European Energy Union.

«Our current energy policies are unsustainable in every sense and in urgent need of reorganisation. Citizens should be at the core of our energy policy. While we have a very ambitious agenda, the momentum is here and now. We will work to ensure a coherent approach to energy across different policy areas, to create more predictability».

Maroš Šefčovič, the Vice-President for the Energy Union, stressed, during his speech, the importance of the initiative, pointing on the urge of a reorganisation of energy policies within the union. Climate action and energy policy are one of Juncker Commission’s priorities and the project can be seen as a part of Jean-Claude Juncker’s agenda and political guideline “A new start for Europe”.

According to the Commission’s press release for the launch of the energy union, the EU imports 55% of its energy, and as much as 90% of the housing stock in Europe is energy inefficient. The initiative is thus supposed to reform the way Europe produces, transports and consumes energy. In addition, there is also a focus on diversifying the mix of energy sources. The main goal is to ensure the security of energy supply within the union and to build a single internal energy market, but also to raise energy efficiency. Renewable energy sources will therefore get increasing attention from policymakers, as the Commission wishes to promote research and innovation in order to make the EU a world leader in renewable energy and in the fight against global warming. Moreover, a European energy Union helps European countries to become less independent on energy import and to reach the climate targets for 2020 and 2030.

Photo credits: acdemocracy.org

Link: Towards a European Energy Union | eu-magazine.com