Energy Community puts spotlight on renewables
At its meeting in Brussels, held on April 25, at the seat of the European Parliament, the Energy Community Parliamentary Plenum underlined that the uptake of renewable energy constitutes a critical aspect of the clean energy transition.
Members of the European Parliament and national parliaments of the Contracting Parties shared their experiences in addressing the challenges of increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix. The Plenum also expressed support for the ongoing work of the Energy Community to establish clean energy and climate targets until 2030.
The meeting was co-chaired by Prof Jerzy Buzek, Chairman of Committee on Industry, Research and Energy of the European Parliament and Goran Milevski, Chairman of Committee on Economy, Assembly of former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Following the Parliamentary Plenum meeting, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat Janez Kopač gave an overview of the Energy Community’s recent achievements and an outlook for the future at the official meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, which was followed by an exchange of views with Members of the European Parliament and the Energy Community Parliamentary Plenum.
The Energy Community Parliamentary Plenum fosters cooperation among elected representatives of the national parliaments of the Contracting Parties and the European Parliament to address shared challenges and support building a fully functioning pan-European energy market that works to the benefit of citizens.
Stimulating the uptake of renewable energy sources is the focus of the next Energy Community Parliamentary Plenum Report to be voted on 17 October 2018 in Skopje under the chairmanship of former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as Energy Community Presidency in Office.
“The Energy Community is the waiting room for EU membership. We were bigger in the past (Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia were also Contracting Parties), but after they became EU members, they seized to be individual Parties of the Energy Community, because the EU is an integrated unit. The main purpose of the organization is to bring EU energy rules into the wider European neighbourhood, to create an internal energy market that is transparent, competitive, environmentally sustainable and secure,” states Director Janez Kopač.
