2015-02-19 – The European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič, Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete and Director General of the Directorate-General for Energy Dominique Ristori met with Energy Ministers of Estonia, Mrs. Urve Palo, Latvia, Mrs. Dana Reizniece-Ozola, and Lithuania, Mr. Rokas Masiulis, to discuss the topic of energy security and electricity market integration in the Baltic region.
The meeting followed the agreement of the Baltic TSOs on the “Roadmap towards the Baltic States power system synchronization with Continental Europe network” (“CEN”) in December 2014 and the signature of the “Declaration on Energy Security of Supply of the Baltic States” by the Baltic Energy Ministers in January 2015.
The European Commission reiterated its commitment to ending the energy isolation of the Baltic States and to increasing energy security in the electricity sector and stressed the importance of the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan (BEMIP) process as an example for a comprehensive regional approach to addressing energy infrastructure challenges in the region.
The Commission welcomed the agreement of the Baltic States to pursue synchronization with CEN, the Commission is willing to assist the Governments of the Baltic States in drawing up a detailed plan of action on the basis of cost-effective technical solution.
Moreover, the Commission underlined the importance of involving neighbouring Member States (i.e.: Poland), as well as concerned third countries (i.e.: Russia and Belarus) given the implications that any decision on the matter of synchronization with CEN will have on these countries.