Anna Elzbieta Fotyga, on behalf of the UEN Group. – (PL) Mr President, Commissioner, I should like to start by congratulating the rapporteur on the excellent outcome of his work on the report on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning measures to safeguard security of electricity supply and infrastructure investment. The report contains a number of considerations, the majority of which I agree with and believe to be of great value.

At the same time, however, I should like to alert the House to three aspects of this issue that have a direct bearing on what we mean by safeguarding security of supply. The first of these is the need to take greater advantage of renewable energy sources. The environmental benefits of the latter are obvious and indisputable, and we should promote their use. The second aspect relates to an issue that has also been highlighted by the rapporteur, namely the importance of ensuring a balanced use of the various primary fuels in electricity generation.

The third aspect, and one which I regard as absolutely crucial, is the need to secure diversified supply sources for each type of primary fuel. Here I mean not only electricity-related matters but also energy security in general. In my opinion, it is intolerable that certain aspects of the European Union’s energy policy mean that Member States are entirely dependent on one source, as in the case of crude oil or, most importantly, Russian gas supplies to Poland, which are guaranteed by means of projects. I should like to take this opportunity to call for the construction of the second leg of the Yamal gas pipeline to be speeded up.