Minister Konrad Mizzi addresses the 2016 SET Plan Conference in Bratislava: Malta’s Presidency critical in taking forward the Energy Union Project

01.12.2016

Minister Konrad Mizzi addresses the 2016 SET Plan Conference in Bratislava: Malta’s Presidency critical in taking forward the Energy Union Project

Malta will be instrumental in taking forward this package of proposals and in steering the implementation of the Energy Union

Minister Konrad Mizzi is currently in Bratislava, Slovakia, taking part as a key panelist in the 2016 SET Plan Conference entitled “Energy Union: towards a transformed Energy system with the new Research, Innovation and Competitiveness Strategy.” Minister Mizzi sat on the panel which debated the Energy Union headway and its challenges.

This high-level policy panel examined the state of affairs of the Energy Union almost two years after its launch in February 2015. The progress of the Energy Union project was assessed by the Vice-President of the European Commission for the Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič, and respective representatives from the Trio Presidency Governments, namely the Netherlands, Slovakia and Malta. The panelists debated the major issues for the effective achievement of the Energy Union’s main objectives, namely security of supply, sustainability and affordability, and the challenges that remain to take this project forward.

In his intervention, Minister Konrad Mizzi drew parallels between the Energy Union and the domestic energy situation in Malta, saying that the reforms undertaken in the last three years in Malta are in perfect synchronisation with the objectives of the Energy Union. He said that the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU will come at a critical juncture of this ambitious EU project and that Malta will do its utmost to register progress on the recently launched package of legislative proposals by the European Commission “Clean Energy for all Europeans”.

Minister Mizzi further explained that Malta’s Presidency will come at an exciting moment domestically, with the coming online in the next few weeks of a new gas-fired power plant that will enable the country to attain a complete breakaway from the use of heavy fuel oil and the closure of old polluting plants. He emphasised that the citizens should remain at the centre of this Energy Union project and that there has to be a coordinated effort to bring this project closer to European citizens as they are ultimately the end-beneficiaries of these ambitious reforms. He said that such groundbreaking reforms are meant to change people’s lives for the better, as has happened in Malta, with the reduction of the electricity tariffs by 25%, the closure of the old Marsa power plant, the restructing of Enemalta, and with the new power plant which will run on gas, thanks to which the cheaper utility tariffs

will be sustained, and by which citizens will benefit from cleaner air and drastically reduced CO2 emissions and particulate matter. All this ties perfectly with the Energy Union objectives and the package of legislative proposals just launched by the European Commission for cleaner energy for all Europeans.

Minister Mizzi emphasised that Malta will be instrumental in taking forward this package of proposals and in steering the implementation of the Energy Union. He suggested that Regional Country Groups should be set up to facilitate the implementation and to ensure that while the objectives are achieved, the project remains sensitive to Member States’ specificities such as those of Malta.

Sitting on the same panel were also the Vice-President of the European Commission for the Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič, the Minister for Trade and Industry of the Czech Republic Jan Mladek, the Slovakian Minister for Economy Peter Ziga, the Polish Undersecretary of State for Energy Michal Kurtyka, and the President for the European Committee of the Regions Markku Markkula.

In his address, Vice-President Šefčovič lauded Minister Mizzi’s commitment and high level of support towards the Energy Union objectives and said that he looked very much forward to Malta’s taking over the Presidency of the Council at this critical moment to continue pushing forward the Energy Union’s agenda, by steering the work on the launched legislative proposals which are meant to form the backbone of the Energy Union project.

Minister Konrad Mizzi is accompanied by the Permanent Secretary for Energy and Projects in the Office of the Prime Minister Ronald Mizzi and the CEO of the Energy and Water Agency Daniel Azzopardi.

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