CAN Europe made a submissions to the European Commission’s Consultation on an Energy Community for the Future.
Since energy sector is seen as a basis for economic prosperity and development in the Energy Community region, it is essential to steer it further and bring to a sustainable path, in line with the EU standards. However, in order to achieve this, multiple changes to the Treaty need to be made.
Firstly, a full range of energy and environment-related EU commitments needs to be adopted, with an equal weight given to all policy areas, meaning that environmental acqui must be seen as equally important as the energy one. The Treaty commitments could also be made more operational by clearly adjusting the deadlines or institutional obligations from EU Directives for the purposes of the Energy Community.
Finally, to increase the credibility of a revised Treaty and engage more effectively its instruments, the involvement of all stakeholders is imperative. A democratic, transparent and more participatory Energy Community should rely on more openness in its functioning. Thus, we believe that it is of the utmost importance that representatives of
civil society organisations be heard at the meetings of all relevant bodies of the Energy Community. This would also ensure a timely exchange of information of public interest, which so far has not been particularly efficient.
