On the sidelines of the informal meeting of European energy ministers on Tuesday 13 May, member countries of the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan (‘BEMIP’) and European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jørgensen signed a memorandum of understanding to invest in and finalise infrastructure projects and interconnections in the region.
The signing was preceded by a discussion on energy security in the region, particularly within the context of implementing the action plan on the security and resilience of submarine cables (see EUROPE 13585/2).
A meeting of ministers from the countries bordering the Baltic was held on 12 May at the Ministry of Climate and Environment in Warsaw.
Lithuania’s energy minister, Žygimantas Vaičiūnas, told the press that a letter had been signed addressed to the European Commission to “pay very close attention to the protection of critical energy infrastructure, both from a regulatory and financial point of view”. Among the priorities, the minister explained, was the need to coordinate at the level of transmission system operators (TSOs) and to optimise “the cost of protecting” critical energy infrastructures.
He added that the countries concerned were proposing that the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) include a separate budget line for this type of protection.
The BEMIP High Level Group is made up of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and the European Commission, with Norway as an observer. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)