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OPENING AND KEYNOTE
Rafael Miranda - Videoclip 1
"Our conference, with its theme of Electrifying the Future:
Building a Sustainable Energy Market, comes at a very timely moment,
when the European Commission’s proposals set out in the third liberalisation and
energy-climate packages are going through the legislative process and we are
seeing a strong commitment from all the EU Member States to drive forward with
the ambitious objectives of the European Energy Strategy ”, said
outgoing EURELECTRIC President Rafael Miranda as he welcomed 550
delegates to the Annual Conference in Barcelona.
Mr Miranda congratulated his successor Lars Josefsson,
President and CEO of Vattenfall, and the new EURELECTRIC Vice-President
Fulvio Conti, CEO of Enel, expressing his “delight” at their
election, which continues the direct involvement of top electricity
company managers in EURELECTRIC activities, helping to ensure that the
industry’s association focuses on the very real business issues.
Rafael Miranda - Videoclip 2
He looked forward to the planned debates led by 40 speakers and panellists on
a range of key issues facing the industry, including:
- How can the ambitious 20-20-20 targets can be met without hurting
competitiveness ?
- How to make energy markets work for all Europeans ?
- How is electricity understood by society ?
- How can the necessary investments to ensure we can meet the targets
be guaranteed in the currently unstable regulatory environment ?
- How to meet the ambitions and expectations of customers and
investors?
- How to electrify Europe’s future in an energy-efficient manner
Mr Miranda promised the audience some interesting exchanges of
opinion, with many distinguished speakers on the podium during the
coming two days. He highlighted especially the Executive Forum
session, in which CEOs from some of Europe’s leading energy companies would
be giving their views on recent developments in the European Energy
Strategy.
He also pointed to the parallel exhibition demonstrating how Europe’s future
can be “electrified” in an energy-efficient manner and invited the
delegates to attend the presentation of the first-ever EURELECTRIC
Electricity Award, to be given to a pioneering contributor towards
revolutionising the operations, processes, technologies or
products of the electricity industry.
Mr Miranda thanked all those involved in the organisation of the
event and Accenture, the conference sponsor, and wished the
audience a stimulating conference and an enjoyable stay in Catalunya.
José Montilla, President of the Generalitat de Catalunya,
welcomed the delegates to Barcelona. Mr Montilla stressed the role of
electricity in supporting industrial competitiveness and expressed the hope that
the power industry professionals, policymakers and energy experts gathered
in Catalunya – “one of the most dynamic areas of Europe,
which has so often been involved in technological revolutions” -
would be able to forge a useful consensus on the key issues for a secure,
sustainable and competitive energy supply.
Mr Montilla expressed his desire to see competition prosper in both the
wholesale and retail electricity markets, underlining the need to develop
cross-border connections and harmonise national rules so as to create a larger,
supra-national area for that competition. However, long-term
sustainability requires balance, with targeted support for revolutionary
renewable energy technologies and a serious drive to reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases, he told the audience. “Policy-making has
considerable inertia. We can’t make mistakes this time or we risk
regretting it for long afterwards” said the President of the
Catalunyan regional government, adding: “Hopefully this
conference here in Barcelona will help to find that balanced way forward.”
Andris Piebalgs - Videoclip 1
At this time of “volatility” in the energy field, “there
is no deviation in EU policy, we know what we have to do and the triple
goals of supply security, competitiveness and sustainability are even more valid
than ever,” said EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs in his
keynote speech to the 550 delegates attending the EURELECTRIC Annual Conference
in Barcelona. Just as “we cannot imagine living without electricity,
EURELECTRIC has a special role to play and the various energy challenges we face
will only be met with your support”, he told the industry
professionals in attendance.
Mr Piebalgs spoke of the “turbulence” now facing the
European Union – both in energy prices and with the recent setback to
ratifying the new EU (Lisbon) Treaty – and argued that some issues can be solved
by the electricity industry itself working through its representative
association EURELECTRIC, but some cannot. The recent oil-price
volatility was filtering its way through the gas price to electricity. The
lesson is clear, said the Commissioner: on the one hand we need to
reduce oil dependency – and ensure energy solidarity between the member states
of the European Union where needed – and on the other hand to
increase the efficiency of our energy use. As well as developing new
renewable energy sources, the EU would still need coal-fired power and
nuclear energy, he argued, which makes it vitally important to ensure full
transparency in the way nuclear plants are run, so as to reassure the
public that any incident or anomaly will be handled properly and professionally.
Andris Piebalgs - Videoclip 2
The third energy market package proposed by Mr Piebalgs and his
colleagues would help to integrate the 27 national energy markets into an EU
single market. “We need open markets and trustworthy markets,”
said Mr Piebalgs. However, “markets cannot deliver policy all by
themselves” nor can the competition watchdog, acting on an ex-post
basis, guarantee an efficient market. We need “appropriate
ex-ante regulation,” he said. In this regard, the Commissioner
expressed optimism that the EU legislators would reach consensus on the package
before the end of the Parliament and Commission 5-year mandate.
“The EU is a balanced entity. Regulation does not take over and
policymakers need the full cooperation of industry. But we also need to
have proper legislation in place. I hope your discussions at this
conference will help us on to the right path,” concluded the Energy
Commissioner.
Session I >>
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