RECENT
EVENTS
Energy Roundtable on the European Green Deal
On September 9 and 10, the Roundtable for Europe’s Energy Future (REEF) met in Brussels to discuss current developments in the digital and energy sector as well as the European Green Deal and to exchange with several guests from EU institutions.
Given Commission President-elect von der Leyen’s timing to reveal the Commission portfolios on September 10, the roundtable took place under meaningful conditions. This has provided an opportunity to write a letter with recommendations to the new President-elect. The CEOs from REEF member companies met to discuss the Green Deal with four Members of the European Parliament: Marina Kaljurand (S&D), Ville Niniistö (Greens/EFA), Seb Dance (S&D) and Niels Fuglsang (S&D). MEP Kaljurand highlighted the importance of cybersecurity and called on REEF to support more actively the Paris Call for trust and security in Cyberspace (2018).
In the morning of 10 September, the REEF spoke with the Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete only a few hours before von der Leyen dedicated the climate portfolio to Vice-President Frans Timmermans. In his speech, Cañete highlighted the electrification as an accelerator for the next steps towards climate neutrality but warned against opposition from the car industry. Hereafter, the REEF met with the Finnish EU Presidency, Mr Petteri Kuuva, Deputy Director General for Energy, who explained the aims of the Finnish presidency including aspects such as an increase in sustainability or the take-up of 5G networks. In the Roundtable’s Mini-Forum, Petteri Kuuva, REEF CEOs, Roberto Viola (DG Connect), Paula Pinho (DG Energy) and Georg Zachman (Bruegel) discussed possible contributions of industry to the New Green Deal. Several topics were discussed such as the REEF’s proposal on EU cyber security and energy system infrastructure.
interesting to hear your views on the #GreenNewDeal💚🤗🔍📝 @SebDance @MarinaKaljurand @VilleNiinisto @NielsFuglsang enabling the European #energyfuture & Vision #newEU @EU_Commission pic.twitter.com/VVLhrhMchY
— Energy Roundtable_REEF (@Roundtable_REEF) September 9, 2019
Happy to speak at the Roundtable for Europe's #Energy Future @Roundtable_REEF. #Digital is a huge opportunity for the energy sector to become more efficient and greener and deliver better services to consumers. Better access to and sharing of #data is crucial in this context. pic.twitter.com/PXhtUC8bDQ
— Roberto Viola (@ViolaRoberto) September 10, 2019
A key conclusion of the REEF-meetings was in order to make the Green Deal happen there must be support from stakeholders such as REEF to give the professional input and to provide assistance and advice. The results of the REEF meeting and the objectives and activities which are very much aligned with the Green Deal have been collected in a letter for President-elect von der Leyen and was sent to her a few days later.
The letter for President-elect von der Leyen can be found here .
To view the executive report, click here.