The central topic of the meeting attended by the representatives of the parliaments of the nine SEECP member states was improving energy efficiency in the region of South East Europe, establishing a regional energy market and liberalising the trade in electrical power, constructing reliable inter-connectors between the countries in the region so as to improve the security of electrical power supply, and optimising the balance between renewable and non-renewable power sources.

In her opening address, Bulgarian Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova presented the priorities of Bulgaria’s energy policy such as security of energy supply and energy market liberalisation accompanied by competitive prices and customer protection in line with relevant EU legislation, environmental protection through the limitation of climate change impact, use of renewable energy sources with diversification of energy sources so as to avoid monopoly in energy supply and dominance of one supplier. The participants were then addressed by the members of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the Bulgarian National Assembly’s Energy Committee, as well as representatives of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry who shed some light on the most important infrastructural projects in the field of energy.

Addressing the assembly, MP Srdjan Kruzevic stressed that the Republic of Serbia has successfully completed the analytical assessment of the harmonisation of its national legislation with the EU acquis communautaire for Chapter 15 – Energy. As a member of the Energy Community we are committed to the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy and have adopted the strategies and action plans necessary to achieve these goals. Every country has an individual goal as regards how much it should boost its use of renewable resources in the overall energy consumption, and it is Serbia’s obligation to boost the use of renewable energy from 21.2% (in 2011) to 27% by 2020. We are both the first and only member of the Energy Community that has submitted the National Action Plan stating that we plan to reach 27% of energy from renewable resources by 2020. By adopting the Energy Development Strategy by 2015 we have recognised the importance of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency as energy development priorities in the Republic of Serbia. Efficient use of energy in the energy production and consumption sector are key elements of the energy and sustainable development policy and are extremely important for all the countries in the region and all the EU member states. Kruzevic underlined the importance of security of energy supply and continued investment into the energy sector, with the necessary continuation of regional integration and construction of inter-connective power lines in South East and Central Europe, for reducing the import dependence of the countries of South East Europe. Serbia is an important energy hub for the transmission of electrical power, and is a prospective hub for gas transmission in view of the gas ring currently constructed in Serbia.

At the end of the meeting, the participants adopted the General Committee’s Report and Resolution urging all the member states to continue to work together and boost their efforts toward improving energy efficiency, construction of regional energy infrastructure and realisation of diversification projects as a pre-condition of energy efficiency and energy security.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the parliaments of Albania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Moldova, Macedonia, Slovenia, Romania, Turkey and Serbia, while the representatives of Pristina attended as special guests.