The creation of a European energy union will raise the political and economic integration in the EU to a new level. This is what President Rosen Plevneliev said, who held talks with Maros Sefcovic, deputy president of the European Commission, in charge of the Energy Union and Miguel Arias Canete, EU commissioner for climate action and energy. The Head of State emphasized that the EU should speak in one voice on the energy issues both within the union and regarding its external partners.
Achieving a good energy connectedness should be a key priority in the EU's energy policy and is a necessary condition for improving the security of supplies, Rosen Plevneliev said. "Unfortunately in the winter of 2009 Bulgaria saw what it is to be dependent on a single natural gas supplier," the Head of State further said and highlighted our country's vulnerability over the past decades as to the high price of natural gas due to the lack of market competition and alternative suppliers.
"The energy resources should not be used as weapons, but as a commodity that is freely traded on the European market. Integration is our weapon in the energy sector," the President was adamant.
The great challenge the the European countries are facing is to reconsider the national approaches adopted to guarantee their energy security and to seek an efficient solution on a regional and European level, Maros Sefcovic, deputy president of the European Commission, said. President Plevneliev emphasized that diversifying the sources and energy transmission routes is a common cause for the East-European countries and called on for pooling efforts to create a regional natural gas market. An action plan will be developed in a couple of months, which will guarantee the diversification of the sources of natural gas supply in the region.
They shared the opinion that energy efficiency is a necessary condition for improving the competitiveness of the European economy. EU commissioner Miguel Arias Canete called on the EU member states to more efficiently take advantage of the support of the European Commission and to make investments in boosting the energy efficiency of their economies. "Unlike the investments in the big energy projects, those in energy efficiency require considerably less investment and directly impact the creation of new jobs," Miguel Arias Canete emphasized.