EC: Integration of Western Balkans countries into European energy system through Energy Community

The European Union wants to use the Energy Community to integrate Ukraine, Moldova and Western Balkan countries as well as other neighboring states into the European energy system, European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic told New Europe in Strasbourg.

– I was saying since the start of our work on Energy Union that it doesn’t stop at the borders of the European Union because it is quite clear that if we want to increase our energy security we have to have very good cooperation and a relationship with our neighbors and we see how important it is for Ukraine, how important it is for Moldova, but we also see how our energy security could be further enhanced if we cooperate very well with countries like Azerbaijan or Georgia because of the Southern Gas Corridor – Sefcovic said in an interview for NewEurope.

Sefcovic said that the Energy Community should be used for making sure that “countries like, for example, Ukraine or Moldova or Western Balkan countries they gradually adopt through Energy Community the EU legislation which makes their energy markets much more compatible with European markets and make them much better integrated into the European system”.

The EC Vice President for Energy Union noted that the European Commission also supported the CESEC Initiative (Central and South-Eastern Europe Gas Connectivity).

Asked about the role of Russia in the region, Sefcovic said that it was “up to those countries to decide and see that much more opportunities to make their energy systems and energy laws compatible with the EU not only because of the issues of energy security but because our laws have clearly modernizing character for their energy markets, we’re pushing for unbundling, de-monopolization, more competition in the market, market coupling and better interconnectors and stronger regional cooperation”.

– This is something which is appealing for these countries and therefore they prefer to work on these matters so closely with the European Union – Sefcovic said.

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South Gas Corridor