Press release
South-east Europe: a strategic partner in EU energy policy
Energy - 18-04-2007 - 13:21
General
General
MEPs and national MPs from the three candidate countries - Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey - met on 16 and 17 April at the European Parliament in Brussels to discuss European energy policy. The importance of better cooperation between the EU and south-east European countries and of targeting key reforms in the candidate countries were the main topics discussed.
South-east Europe is a region of major strategic importance for the European Union's energy security. Turkey in particular is a key country of transit for oil and gas from Russia and Central Asia. This is why energy was the topic chosen for this first meeting between MEPs and parliamentarians from the candidate countries, which was organised by the EP Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments.
Better cooperation to guarantee energy security
Most speakers stressed the need to strengthen cooperation between the Member States and with the candidate countries to ensure secure energy supplies.
"You say you have no common policy and that each country has its own policy", commented Miroslav Cosic, an MP of the Croatian Democratic Union. How then do you expect to plan your actions? Have you got a method?". Renato Brunetta (EPP-ED, IT), who chaired the first session, replied that "we are just setting up" a common energy policy. He added that it was essential to involve the candidate countries in the process. "Personally, I am in favour of Turkey's membership of the EU, and the sooner the better", he said.
Regional cooperation was also seen as an opportunity for the candidate countries. Brendan Devlin of the European Commission argued that small countries in which a state-run company with a dominant market position is geared purely to the national market will not be able to attract investors. They need an export-oriented outlook and to be "anchored" in the EU in order to plan large-scale investments in conjunction with Member States with significant purchasing power such as Germany.
A regional cooperation framework with the European Union already exists. The Energy Community Treaty, signed in October 2005, is the first multilateral treaty in history between the EU and (in this case) nine partners in south-east Europe (Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria and the United Nations mission in Kosovo), the meeting was told by Renaud Van Der Elst of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, who also described the conditions put in place to attract investors to the signatory countries. This treaty, which is the fruit of the Athens process launched in 2002, is designed to facilitate the creation of an integrated European energy market and the completion of projects such as that for the pan-European pipeline linking the Caspian Sea and the EU, signed this year, and the Nabucco gas pipeline set in train by five countries in 2006.
Differences over the situation of the candidate countries
The representatives of the candidate countries described the progress made in their own countries on the energy front, including taking on board the acquis communautaire and privatisation. But according to Mr Devlin much remains to be done. For example, Turkey, in his view, is buying too much gas at too high a price and in an untransparent manner, with long-term risks for its balance of payments. Macedonia is lagging behind in its reforms and has even gone backwards on the question of decoupling production from distribution of energy. Croatia has not really made progress on privatisation, especially as regards the restructuring of Hrvatska Elektropriveda (HEP), the state electricity supply monopoly.
MPs of the Turkish party AKP, including Afif Demirkiran and Aydin Dumanoglu, acknowledged that Turkey was buying very large volumes of gas but they underlined the difficulties their country faced in meeting growing demand for energy. Diversification was essential, they added, referring to plans to build a nuclear power station, a source of energy which would prevent the electricity shortages expected by around 2020.
Kresimir Cosic told the meeting that the restructuring of HEP was under way and that plans were being carried out for new power stations. Macedonian MPs Mirjana Sekulovska (of the New Social Democrat Party) and Slobodan Najdovski (of the Liberal Democratic Party) were astonished at the criticisms made by the Commission representative and put forward various examples to argue that his analysis of the situation was incorrect.
Winding up the debates, former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek (EPP-ED, PL), who chaired the second day's session, pointed to his experience of negotiations when his country was a candidate for EU membership, saying "this kind of difference of opinion always exists. The situation is as it is but interpretations differ. At any rate the best thing is to reach agreement before joining the EU".
16/04/2007
EU energy policy and the candidate countries: interparliamentary colloquium with MEPs and MPs of the EU's candidate countries
REF.: 20070416IPR05293