Brussels, 14/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 11 September in Brussels, the High Level Group on Energy of the Party of European Socialists (PES), created in June this year and chaired by Finnish Deputy Prime Minister Eero Heinäluoma, discussed suggestions for a common European energy policy based on a specifically Social Democrat approach, a press release from the PES Group of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) points out. The vice-president of the Austrian Federation of Municipalities and own-initiative rapporteur for the CoR on the “Green Paper on Energy Efficiency”, Bernd Vögerlee, representing the PES Group at the CoR, placed emphasis in his speech on the local and regional dimension. In particular, he: - acknowledged the need to coordinate energy policy at European level while respecting the principle of subsidiarity; - stressed the need to improve energy efficiency with measures aimed at low income categories mainly affected by energy price rises; - and stressed that the sharing of socially fair energy resources is one of the main elements of the Social Democrat approach for energy policy. Mr Vögerlee also recommended common management of reserves in a spirit of solidarity.