Roberta METSOLA, EP President, participates to the G7 speakers conference in Tokyo (Japan). The G7 Speakers' Meeting provides an opportunity for the presiding officers of the parliaments of the G7 countries and of the European Parliament to gather together to frankly discuss parliamentary responses to international issues and concerns over parliamentary systems in their countries. Full address by Roberta METSOLA, EP President on "Energy security and international cooperation". The transcription is the result of au automatic process. Please, check against delivery.

statement

EU - Japan (T)

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

G7 Summit (T)

Japan

Tokyo

president's agenda

Official visit by Roberta METSOLA, EP President to Tokyo (Japan) - G7 speakers conference: address by Roberta METSOLA, EP President on "Energy security and international cooperation"

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/72032630/1694155289435_I245532Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Thank you very much for this opportunity. A year ago, dear colleagues and friends, when we last met in Berlin, the situation in Europe was precarious. Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine truly shook the European Union's energy markets and supplies. And while we had long been committed mostly on paper, to achieving energy independence, the outbreak of the war in Ukraine certainly brought an unprecedented level of urgency to our actions and when we had to act with it.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, So with the power of unprecedented shared unity and resilience, our sanctions, coupled by those implemented by partners across the globe, have played a key role in isolating Russia and weakening the Kremlin's ability to finance its illegal war. Today, Russia's oil and gas revenues have decreased by almost 50%.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, This shows that sanctions and our dependence that no longer exists are working. But loopholes remain. Our citizens have understood that the price for freedom is worth it. And this is due largely to the leadership of parliaments, our parliaments. But we must ensure that we enact policies now to and to make sure that this does not become a flashpoint that fuels war fatigue as I said this morning.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, And I am convinced that we can keep people with us and with Ukraine, the European Union was able to cushion much of the blow. And among the measures used to the impact of high energy prices on companies and households. The European Union agreed to reduce demand for natural gas by 15%, a target that the member states in fact exceeded.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, We enacted the gas storage regulation with an extremely fast timeframe. This set a binding obligation for Member States to fill their gas storage reserves by 90% in preparation for the winter months, and we did pretty well in that regard. We also established the EU energy platform, and this today plays a key role in pooling demand, coordinating infrastructure use between member states and negotiating with key international partners.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, And all these and other actions mean that when we talk to our citizens and we prepare for European elections in June next year, they can rest assured that our strategic gas reserves are guaranteed and that we are much better prepared than we were for any instability on energy markets.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, So as we are coming out of what I hope has been the worst of the energy crisis, I believe many of us would agree that it was shortsighted to rely on Russia for energy supplies to such a heavy extent to wake up to the realisation on the 22nd of February 2022 that some of our member states were over 90%, a couple hundred percent reliant on Russian gas.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, What we should have understood then, and I trust we have today, is that Russia had done already and will continue to use energy as a political tool and going forward, the European Union is adamant on not making that mistake again. So our long term policy of triple diversification of energy sources, of supply routes, and of suppliers is evidence of our efforts to restructure our energy security strategy to enable a stable and abundant supply of energy for citizens and the economy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, On energy sources, if the Russian weaponization of energy provisions have taught us anything it is that the shift towards renewable energy is as much about climate ambition as it is about security. And security includes a stable, prosperous economy. Low carbon resilient and autonomous energy sources are what will guarantee stability and security on our continent.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, And as part of an ambitious legislative package, we created further incentives to speed up the rollout of renewable energy sources in Europe. Huge differences between Member States when we look at the statistics and the targets that need to still be reached by many, our emissions trading system will be a backbone of these efforts. And I have always seen our green transition as an integral part of our sustainable economic growth strategy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, But in order for it to work, it has to be human centric. It must provide real incentives and safety nets for industry, and it must be climate ambitious. And we need this to be the driver of a clean tech revolution. And I am convinced that we can do it in a way that is affordable and that can keep the people with us. In this way, the European Union's commitment to aligning its energy policies with the goals of the Paris Agreement makes economic and strategic sense.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, But yet, allow me a moment to flag the necessity of re-evaluating our common standards on carbon pricing to decrease carbon leakage and stop favouring those who do least to fight climate change. The European Union has made its first step in that direction by adopting its carbon border adjustment mechanism. On the diversification of energy, particularly of natural gas supplies. Also, this necessitates the building of new routes and strengthening existing ones.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, And this is why the European Union has increased its supplies from partners like the United States and is boosting imports from friendly neighbouring states. Internally, European wide energy solidarity, which was almost impossible to contemplate or even put into place a couple of years ago, is all about removing existing bottlenecks by building new interconnections between member states, removing so-called energy islands that we have in our union and LNG terminals across Europe to boost energy supply in the name of the flow across borders.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, And as our efforts have to be to diversify our suppliers. A robust and durable international relations, including amongst G7 countries, is key and we need to build the coalition of trusted partners, have less reliance on single suppliers and ensure that our policies are inclusive of smaller economies. And this also goes for our supply of uranium that is needed for nuclear energy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, That is why we also welcome the five point plan for critical minerals security that was agreed during the G7 summit last May. The renewal of our political ties is crucial if we are to face up to the new economic, social and geopolitical realities that are shaping our societies and communities. Finally, to do all this, I firmly believe that we are speakers of parliamentary houses have an important role to play in reaffirming the importance of inter-parliamentary communication and in cultivating our citizens understanding so the necessary changes that need to be made.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, I didn't make reference to this earlier in our discussion on Ukraine, but here we have established a committee to committee forum where our Foreign Affairs committee, our energy committee, our transport committee meets in parallel in order to allow countries like Ukraine also to adapt to our legislative base, but also in the case of energy to bring enlargement countries become accession countries.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, So our collective efforts are critical in reducing emissions in that regard. The solutions that are being provided are often legislative in nature, and therefore it is why our parliaments play a key role in overcoming past, current and inevitably future crises.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, I think there is a lot we can learn from discussions like this, but from each other by sharing our experiences of what has been successful and of what did not ultimately bring the expected results. I think it is also fair to our citizens, to be honest with what did not work until today and what should be explained honestly and fairly. Thank you.