Washington D.C, 8 February 2022 (TDI): The ninth meeting of the EU-US Energy Council was held in Washington DC on Monday, February 7.
The meeting was chaired by the U.S Secretary of the State Antony Blinken, U.S Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm, EU Vice President/High Representative Josep Borrell Fontelles, European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson.
Philippe Etienne Ambassador of France to the US represented the presidency of the Council of European Union (EU). The Energy Council was built on the work announced by President Von Der Leyen and President Biden on US-EU cooperation on energy security as of January 28, 2022.
The US-EU energy council is one of the biggest coordination forums dealing with strategic energy issues. The main focus of the energy council is to counter the challenges posed by the rapidly changing energy landscape and continuous risk to energy security including energy infrastructure as well as cyber security.
In the meeting the urgency of gas supply in Europe especially Ukraine was discussed. European Union and the United States discussed climate change as both parties showed interest in achieving their target to net zero emissions by 2050.
Initiatives to work together for the fast decarbonization, clean energy transition was also discussed. In order to counter harmful effects of climate change around the globe, especially for the citizens of the US and EU, the energy council focused to pace up the just energy transition to climate neutrality, for research and development in the relevant fields.
Energy Security in European Union, Ukraine, and Western Balkans
In the meeting, the United States and the European Union committed to contributing actively in order to deal with any potential risk of energy crisis in Europe, Ukraine, and Western Balkans as a result of the military crisis in Ukraine.
The council also recognized the impacts of cyber threats to energy infrastructure and planned to continue the cooperation that also includes the synchronization of the Baltic States electricity network with the Continental European Network.
However, the energy council also emphasized that energy supply should not be used as a weapon or geopolitical level to maximize the influence.
Addressing the current geopolitical tensions, the European Union and the United States have shown interest in maximizing the Council’s support for the energy security of eastern partners, such as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.
The energy council also acknowledged the strong EU-US relations that made it easy for a number of different initiatives on global climate and energy actions at COP26, G7, G20, and infusion through both the ITER international agreement and EURATOM research.
The energy council also appreciated the efforts of several other US-EU bilateral platforms such as the newly established Trade and Technology Council.
){kind=link}