CHIEF ADVISOR ISTVÁN JOÓ PRESENTED THE RESULTS AND ON-GOING ACTIVITIES OF THE ENERGY PRIORITY AREA AT THE 2ND ANNUAL FORUM OF THE EUSDR
Chief Advisor István Joó presented the results and on-going activities of the Energy Priority Area at the 2nd Annual Forum of the EUSDR
The 2nd Annual Forum of the Danube Region Strategy of the European Union took place in Bucharest, 28-29 October 2013. The Forum highlighted the great potential in the Strategy and strengthened the need for cooperation to increase the competitiveness of the region. After the first euphoric period, the Strategy needs to take concrete actions according to Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy. The Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Titus Corlatean in his closing speech underlined that the Forum helped to see more clearly the necessary steps in front of the countries to help the implementation of the Strategy in the 2014-2020 period. The main conclusion was well emphasised by the motto of the Forum: “Stronger together, stronger in the world”.
In the “Connected Danube Region” workshop of the Annual Forum István Joó, Chief Advisor to the Priority Area Coordinator presented the results and on-going activities of the Energy Priority Area (PA2). As he highlighted, Central Europe is lagging behind in energy market integration objectives laid down by the European Council in 2011 and the fragmented markets and high energy prices are substantial barriers that prevent the region to be more competitive, as well as to attract large scale investments.
The concrete results of already completed concepts and ongoing initiatives of the PA2 were also introduced by Mr Joó. As he stressed The Danube Region Gas Market Model was able to create a joint position of the countries on the most critical gas infrastructure development projects eventually to be financed by EU sources. The European Commission highly appreciated the new macro-regional approach and took the opinion of the DRS countries into consideration as it was clearly reflected in the final list of Projects of Common Interest. By implementing these projects, said Mr Joó, we will have cheaper energy prices in the Region that will result in more competitiveness and finally more jobs.
The first-of-its kind Danube Region Gas Storage Analysis took the macro-regional approach in order to evaluate whether more gas storage investments are needed for the Danube Region. As the Chief Advisor of the Energy Priority Area underlined, the analysis clearly showed that the region already has sufficient and also substantial unused storage capacities. In this regard, the work of PA2 inspired the countries of the DRS to start a joint thinking on the smart use of already available capacities.
The Strategy has created a new platform for sharing best practices with non-EU countries. The training program of PA2 in the Republic of Moldova gave practical assistance to the country on the implementation of the EU’s energy law by involving the best experts and introducing the practices of the Danube countries – according to István Joó.
As he outlined, there are several on-going concepts of the PA2 in the field of biomass, geothermal energy, smart grid and energy efficiency for public building. Some of the results are expected already this year.
