An international public audition on optimising energy supplies for the European Union was held at the headquarters of the Economic and Social Committee (EASC) in Brussels last week. The various and at times conflicting opinions that emerged in the course of the debate – in which political leaders and professionals in the sector participated – all went more or less in the same direction: the ever-growing risks deriving from CO2 emissions into the atmosphere make it inevitable for the European Union as a whole to reinforce its energy systems through a diversification of sources and increased capacity for saving. According to European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, the time has come to “develop an energy mix”, within which scope must be found for “research in the sectors of nuclear power, the treatment of wastes and safety”. Conflicting with the views of some governments and even of some Services within the Commission itself, Piebalgs also advocated state aid (currently prohibited by EU competition regulations) for the promotion of renewable sources of energy. At the end of the audition, the representatives of the EASC announced the forthcoming presentation of an Opinion focused on diversified mix, on energy efficiency, on the still important role of fossil fuels and on the nuclear option for a sustainable, diversified, balanced and economically viable energy policy for Europe.
