Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-01-14-Speech-3-344"
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"en.20090114.17.3-344"2
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"Mr President, this major disruption in supply is a dramatic one for European citizens, European industries and European jobs and it comes on top of the economic crisis. We parliamentarians of this House, in our coming European elections, will all have to answer questions about what we have done to protect our industries, our jobs and our citizens.
Contrary to some initial opinions, the problem concerns political and multilateral entities and is not bilateral and commercial in nature. Three years ago, when we witnessed the first gas crisis following Russia’s cutting of energy supplies, Europe realised its vulnerability and its limitations. Already then it became obvious that we need a common EU foreign policy on energy.
Our group, the PPE-DE Group, has supported this idea from the very beginning. It was our group which took the lead by asking for an own-initiative report towards a common European foreign policy on energy, which I had the honour to present to this House in September 2007 and which was unanimously supported by all the political groups and adopted almost unanimously.
It called for a comprehensive strategy with a precise road map towards a common EU external policy on energy, recommending a number of actions to be taken: in the short term, solidarity mechanisms, unity in defending our interests, more efficient energy diplomacy; and, in the medium term, diversification including Nabucco, storage, investments and interconnections.
Some of our recommendations have been addressed – albeit belatedly – in the Commission’s second strategic energy review. We welcome this and also the efforts of the Czech presidency to solve the current crisis and to mediate between the two sides.
However, this is not enough if we are to avoid similar situations in the future, and this will only be possible if we equip ourselves with a truly common EU energy security policy and solidarity, which would offer lasting, sustainable and systemic solutions. It means the combined weight of Member States, represented by the European Commission, in negotiations, and a single EU voice vis-à-vis our partners, be they producers or transit countries. Meanwhile, we could envisage buying gas directly from Russia at the Russian-Ukrainian border.
I have two questions for the President-in-Office and the Commission. Commissioner Piebalgs and Deputy Prime Minister Vondra, could you elaborate on the scenario of the EU stepping in and taking over responsibility, with the Ukraine, for the transit? Secondly, what pressure instruments does the EU possess? What action could we take in response? Our group would expect the presidency and the Commission to undertake swift and radical actions and measures vis-à-vis our energy partners, Russia and Ukraine, to restore gas supplies. Our group will ask Parliament to be closely and permanently involved, even during the campaign and until the elections. I would inform you that we have established a contact group between the European Parliament, the Russian Parliament and the Ukrainian Parliament."@en1
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