In a joint meeting in the European Parliament in Brussels, MEPs and MPs from all EU Member States debated on single energy market, sustainable production and security of energy supply. Concluding remarks by

Towards a European Energy Community: extracts from the concluding remarks

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General views of the plenary meeting room with participants coming in (4 shots)

SOUNDBITE (English) Jacek SARYUS-WOLSKI (ECR, PL), rapporteur of the first working group, There is no efficiently functioning single market in energy without single energy security space, and guarantor of which can only be the Union as a whole. Even though a general and strong support has been expressed for the principle of solidarity, the question was raised about the financing of its practical implementation. Therefore it has been concluded that we need to formulate a proper compensation mechanism at EU level in order to encourage investment in infrastructure like storage and interconnections.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Felix LAVILLA MARTINZ, Member of the Spanish Parliament and rapporteur of the second working group, For the existence of a market based on cheaper prices as well as guaranteeing security of supply we want to have to have interconnected grids, without electricity and gas grid interconnections there cannot be any single market in energy for the 21st century.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Jesus ALIQUE LOPEZ, Member of the Spanish Parliament and rapporteur of the third working group, It's crucial that renewable energies have access to the networks. Secondly, it is crucial that at European level the national networks are sufficiently interconnected to allow for the common exploitation of the potential that renewable energies offer and to bring down the costs through an interconnected common energy market.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Pedro Luis MARIN URIBE, Spanish Secretary of State for Energy, The coming into effect of the Lisbon Treaty may mean a fundamental shift in the Union's energy policy. Now for the first time we have a legal basis in the Treaty which we didn't have before and which now defines energy as a shared competence.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Pedro Luis MARIN URIBE, Spanish Secretary of State for Energy, The national and regional interests and in some cases local interests have stood in the way of developing necessary technologies for EU energy policy.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Joaquin ALMUNIA, Vice-President of the EC, Security of supply is of key importance and we have been able to see in real time the kinds of problems that this can cause for millions of European citizens, when it turns out that we're overdependent on external energy supplies and specifically our dependence on natural gas in past years. The second pillar of course is competitiveness and the third one the issue of sustainability.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Joaquin ALMUNIA, Vice-President of the EC, If we want to make progress in the internal market and have a single European energy market and energy policy, interconnection is of huge importance and this is something which has not yet been resolved.

SOUNDBITE (Lithuanian) Zigmantas BALCYTIS (LT), The discussions have highlighted the most relevant problems, the fact that there is a lack of political will in the EU which can be felt at the moment and will remain the main obstacle in trying to create an energy community.

<p>SOUNDBITE (English) Jerzy BUZEK,EP President, Implementation of the existing law in the EU is the first important point, networks in energy, responding crisis, investing in research, we have our set plan -the strategic energy technology plan- we should connect it to the 2020 strategy.</p>

Towards a European Energy Community: extracts from the concluding remarks

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