Brussels, 13/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 12 October, Miguel Arias Cañete, European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, and Abdelkader Amara, Moroccan energy minister, launched in Rabat a new platform for cooperation on regional electricity markets of the countries of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) (the 28 member states of the EU, in addition to Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Syria (suspended), Tunisia and Turkey).
Firstly, the platform will focus on integrating countries on the southern and eastern coasts of the Mediterranean. In the medium to long term, the platform then envisages integrating these markets with the EU countries. The overall goal is to achieve a regional electricity market in which electricity can be exchanged across borders without physical, technical or regulatory barriers.
This is the second of the three platforms - on gas, regional electricity market, and renewables & energy efficiency - to be launched following the Commissioner's visit to Algeria and Morocco in May. These regional platforms aim to deepen energy cooperation between the EU and South and East Mediterranean countries. The gas platform was launched in June, and the renewables and energy efficiency platform will be launched soon in Cairo. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)