Joint responses to energy challenges through a European Energy Community

This Joint Declaration is published following the conference “The European Union moving towards a European energy community” organised by Notre Europe and the EESC in Brussels on 31 January 2012.

Despite significant developments and a substantial increase in regulatory activities in recent years, EU energy policy is still unable successfully and simultaneously to achieve its major objectives, which are: ensuring access to energy at reasonable and stable prices, maintaining the EU’s industrial competitiveness, ensuring security of energy supply for all Europeans wherever they live and promoting the sustainable production, transmission, distribution, storage and consumption of energy, thus moving decisively towards a lowcarbon society.

Energy policy is too often viewed as a highly sensitive issue of purely national interest and national independence. However, the interdependence between Member States in the field of energy has never been so strong in political, economic and technical terms. A standstill or any move backwards could have far-reaching detrimental consequences. Unilateral national decisions increase the risk of divergence and can cause price hikes or swings in regional energy production and consumption, to name but two issues. As we have seen recently, European countries can make sovereign choices regarding energy supply, but this comes at a price. Conflict between national attitudes must therefore be eradicated. Today, no single European country can, on its own, reliably provide its citizens with affordable energy.

A new approach is required, aimed at ensuring deeper European integration and solidarity in the field of energy. The EU’s European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and Notre Europe have consequently joined forces to further develop the policy proposal for a fullyfledged European Energy Community, based on an initiative from Notre Europe. The EESC and Notre Europe have identified the following key objectives and policy proposals to be developed in the EU without delay