Participants at the seventh ministerial meeting of the High Level Group on Central and South Eastern Europe Energy Connectivity (CESEC) reaffirmed their commitment on Friday 2 October to strengthening cooperation, coordination and solidarity among countries in the region in order to address the energy challenges they face.
Created in February 2015, the CESEC Working Group brings together nine European Union Member States (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) and eight contracting parties of the Energy Community (Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro) to achieve a common objective: accelerating the integration of the gas and electricity markets of Central and South-East Europe.
Praising the success of this forum for “identifying priority projects, providing political support and mobilising aid”, European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson called on all members of the working party to take the necessary steps to enable the full implementation of the EU regulatory framework for gas, as well as to explore options for merging gas markets between the various countries in the region.
The commissioner also emphasised the importance of better connecting the various electricity grids in order to integrate a growing share of renewable energy in a region that remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels, despite the potential of renewable energies.
According to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which was published on the same day, renewables could in fact cover more than a third (34%) of energy demand in Central and South-Eastern Europe in 2030 in a cost-effective way.
See the IRENA report: https://bit.ly/36x7KDt (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)