Brussels, 23/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - MEPs and MPs from three candidate countries - Croatia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Turkey - met at the European Parliament in Brussels on 16-17 April to discuss the stakes of the Community energy policy, cooperation between the EU27 and the countries of South East Europe and priority reform in these countries. Agreeing that South East Europe is of strategic importance for the Union's energy supply security (Turkey, especially, being a hub for oil and gas from Russia and Central Asia), most speakers stressed the need to strengthen cooperation within member states and with candidate countries in order to ensure energy supply security. Heading the first day of work, Renato Brunetta (EPP-ED, Italy) pointed out that it was essential to involve South East Europe in the process of developing a common EU energy policy. In this context, Mr Brunetta said he was in favour of Turkey's rapid entry into the Union.
Regional cooperation was also presented as an opportunity for candidate countries. Brendan Devlin, from DG Energy at the Commission, took the view that the small countries in which a state enterprise with a dominant position only looks towards the national market will not be able to attract investors. For these countries, it is therefore essential to have the prospect of exports as an “anchor” in the Union to programme large-scale investment in partnership with member states that have considerable purchasing power. A regional cooperation framework with the Union exists. Signed in October 2005, the treaty establishing the energy community - to which Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and the UN interim administration mission in Kosovo belong - aims to facilitate the creation of an integrated European energy market and the accomplishment of concrete projects such as the pan-European oil pipeline (PEOP) linking Constanza on the Black Sea to Trieste, and the Nabucco gas pipeline, recalled Renaud Van Der Elst of the Stability Pact for South East Europe, who also presented the conditions set in place to attract investors to these countries.
The representatives of candidate countries also presented progress made in their respective countries in the area of energy, such as the alignment on the Community body of law and privatisations. Mr Devlin nonetheless felt that there was still much to be done. The Commission representative said Turkey buys too much gas at too high a price and in a way that lacks transparency entailing long-term risks for its balance of payments. Macedonia, on the other hand, is lagging behind with reform and has fallen back in the process of unbundling (between production activity and the operators' network). Finally, Croatia has not really made much progress along the road to privatisation, mainly with regard to the restructuring of Hrvatska Elektropriveda (HEP), a state monopoly for the provision of electricity.
Acknowledging that gas purchases have increased considerably in Turkey, the Turkish representatives of the AKP party, including Afif Demirkiran and Aydin Dumanoglu, stressed the difficulties experienced by their country to meet the growing energy demand. Diversification remains indispensable, they said, mainly speaking of a nuclear power plant construction project that should allow them to avoid electricity shortages predicted for 2020. The Croatian representative, Kresimir Cosic, said that HEP restructuring was in progress and that the projects of new power plants had been realised. Macedonian representatives, Mirjana Sekulovska (from the new Social Democrat Party) and Slobodan Najdovski (from the Liberal Democrat party) expressed surprise at the reproaches made by the Commission representative and sought to dismiss his analysis. (eh)