Joint responses to energy challenges through a European Energy Community

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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.

| 27/03/2012

| Energy and climate

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.

This Joint Declaration is available in ALL EU LANGUAGES here.

Summary

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 low-carbon 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 fully-fledged 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.