Prior to the Parliamentary Plenum, members of national parliaments of the Contracting Parties held a preparatory meeting with the Energy Community Secretariat as well as with MPs from the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy of the European Parliament.
The preparatory meeting was co-chaired by Mr Janez Kopač, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat and Muhamed Mustafa, Chair of the Energy Community Parliamentary Plenum and Chairperson of the Committee for Economic Development, Infrastructure, Trade and Industry of the Kosovo Assembly. They stated that Contracting Parties were in the stage of implementing the Third Energy Package and learning about new measures that the European Commission has proposed within the “Clean Energy Package”.
It was pointed out that the new Package includes measures directed to managing energetic and climate change, market of electric energy, price of energy and protection from energy poverty, energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy from the aspect of objectives after 2020. The participants talked about the influence of the Clean Energy Package to the Energy Community, and they emphasised that in the forthcoming period the Energy Community should pay a special attention to establishing framework after 2020, as well as instruments for determining the challenges of transposition and implementation of the current acquis, the reduction of legal and regulatory gap with the European Union and other.
After the preparatory meeting, members of the Parliamentary Plenum met in the European Parliament members of the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, chaired by Jerzy Buzek, Chairperson of the Committee. During the meeting, they exchanged views and opinions on measures of the Clean Energy Package, the consequences of these measures on the Energy Community, and to the countries of the Contracting Party, as well as on proposals for amendments to the Energy Community Treaty.
During the Energy Community Parliamentary Plenum meeting, chaired by Mr Jerzy Buzek and Muhamet Mustafa, Members of Parliament taking part in the Energy Community Parliamentary Plenum meeting
highlighted that the Energy Community is the most advanced instrument in terms of creating a Pan-European energy market which is secure, competitive and sustainable. The Energy Community should be ambitious in adopting new acquis in order to further this goal. The Members of Parliament agreed that the Parliamentary Plenum provides a solid framework for cooperation and regular exchange of views on the vital issues of energy, environment and climate change.
The Parliamentary Plenum emphasised the need to boost cooperation
between Members of National Parliaments of the Energy Community Contracting Parties and Members of the European Parliament in order to achieve the free flow of energy across the EU and Energy Community Contracting Parties. They also stressed the importance of sharing experience and best practice in terms of acquis transposition and implementation. The Energy Community Parliamentary Plenum emphasised the urgency with which it is necessary to address the legal gaps on the interface between Energy Community Contracting Parties and EU
Member States. It was also stated that the adoption of the Clean Energy Package presents an opportunity to overcome a number of barriers to energy market integration. The Energy Community Parliamentary Plenum agreed that the Energy Community should not wait to shape up its energy and climate objectives to 2030, all according to the possibilities of each of the member countries.
Members of Parliament were informed at the end of the meeting that the next Parliamentary meeting will take place on 18 October 2017 in Pristina, back-to-back to the Energy Community Ministerial Council. Members of Parliament agreed that the next Parliamentary Plenum meeting in Brussels will take place in March/April 2018.
