Brussels, 04/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - The day after the EU-US Summit in Washington (see related article), EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Research Commissioner Janez Potoènik, Swedish enterprise minister Maud Olofsson, US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and US Energy Secretary Steven Chu launched a new EU-US Energy Council. As reported in EUROPE 10000, the EU-US Energy Council will provide a new framework for deepening the transatlantic dialogue on strategic energy issues such as security of supply or policies to move towards low carbon energy sources while strengthening the ongoing scientific collaboration on energy technologies. The Energy Council will meet alternatively in the United States and Europe once a year, and will report back to the EU-US Summit. The EU will be represented on the Energy Council by the EU External Relations, Energy and Science and Technology Commissioners, and by the Presidency of the EU. The US will be represented by the Secretary of State and the Energy Secretary. The work of the Council will be structured through working groups of senior officials from both sides that will focus on three specific areas: Energy Policies, Global Energy Security and Global Markets, and Energy Technologies Research Cooperation. The first meeting was largely procedural, deciding on the work programme and priority areas for 2010. (E.H. trans fl)