Proceedings of the Workshop on "European Energy Community Strategy: Political, Economic and Environmental Challenges in South East Europe"

While a sustainable energy strategy is needed in South East Europe, such a strategy should pay attention to the specific context of the region (i.e. post-conflict era, recent market liberalisation and corruption). The EU and South-East Europe countries share similar interests (i.e. energy security), yet their perception is to some extent different. For the South East Europe region, national energy security is a priority. EU conditionality (which translates into copy-pasting EU directives) is seen as not very efficient. Key challenges in EU-South East Europe cooperation also include the implementation of approximated legislation at a national level and the prioritisation based on regional criteria. The Energy Community Treaty could be used as a means to change the entire energy sector in the region; however this requires serious supporting policies. In particular, a strong rule of law approach (e.g. flanking measures in respect of antitrust and public procurement) is necessary to develop investments and build new infrastructures in the region.