EESC calls for a common EU external policy on energy
In a communiqué issued on 18th March 2011, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) calls on the European Union to consider the security of its energy supply as one of the priorities of its external policy. The recommendation is one of the results of an Opinion on energy supply and neighbourhood policy commissioned by the current Hungarian EU presidency.
In the Opinion, the Committee also recommends the appointment of a
high representative for energy policy to ensure that Europe speaks with
one voice in this area.
For Stéphane Buffetaut (Employers' Group, France), President of the
Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society Section
of the EESC, “it is a matter of great concern that the EU is
increasingly dependent on undemocratic and unstable areas; in the long
term, this could create many difficulties for the overall security of
the EU.”
According to the communiqué, the EESC urged the EU to strengthen its
strategic partnerships with supplier countries as well as to advance
its policy towards neighbouring countries through which most energy
supplies transit, for example by supporting the countries of the
Eastern Partnership and having structured cooperation with
Mediterranean countries.
The EESC has also asked the Commission to explore the feasibility of an
EU energy treaty that would put energy on a new institutional footing
and complete the provisions of the Lisbon treaty.
The Opinion is one of the items to be debated at an EESC conference on
energy security to be held in Pécs (Hungary) on 29th April 2011.
http://www.energy.eu
