Moldova’s development is important for the regional energy market in Balkans – EU Commissioner

Romania’s role in the EU in creating a regional energy market, including Balkans, as well as Moldova, is a very important one, says the European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs, in an interview with “Romania Libera” newspaper, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. According to the European official, the last EU enlargement wave created a completely new situation for the member states: for the first time EU has borders at the Black Sea, which means that countries that seemed to be so far away, like Kazakhstan, are in fact, much closer. Romania, which is one of the largest member-states, with important resources and an excellent potential in renewable energy resources, can bring ideas concerning cooperation and stability in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea zone. Concerning the other countries, Piebalgs says that the evolution of Moldova, willing to accede to the Energy Community, is remarkable. Given this fact, Moldova’s connection with Romania is very important. According to Piebalgs, the Black Sea initiative is an advantageous point of Romania it should develop in the EU, because the Union is bordering the Black Sea now and everything that happens in the countries from this region is essential for both the security of energy transportation and environment. According to the European Commissioner, following the debates with the German chairmanship of the EU upon the energy strategy, a consensus has been created among the member-states concerning the reduction of their energy dependence on Russia. “I think Russia lost a part of its credibility as a supplier after the recent oil deliveries had been suspended”, Piebalgs mentioned. According to the same source, one of the potential directions of the EU’s action is to encourage Russia to ratify the Energy Charter, and the other one is the direction of negotiations on a new cooperation agreement with Russia, including not just energy, but also trade relations. The Latvian Andris Piebalgs has been appointed in 2004 as European Commissioner for Energy. He is the author of the Energy strategy, adopted by the European Comission last week, which offers concrete solutions for reducing the energy dependence on Russia. Former minister of Finances and then ambassador of Latvia in the EU, Piebalgs had a central role in the negotiations for the accession of his country. Recently, "The Economist" awarded him the title "the Eurocrat of the year", with the argument that he is a “sparkling advertisement for the post-communist countries’ political abilities”.