IENE participated in a half-day high-level event, which was held on March 15, in Sofia, as part of Bulgaria’s agenda in its current EU presidency. The event dealt with the important role that Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) play in formulating energy policy. IENE was represented by its Head of Research, Mr. Dimitris Mezartasoglou, who attended this meeting and presented the Institute’s caseIENE participated in a half-day high-level event, which was held on March 15, in Sofia, as part of Bulgaria’s agenda in its current EU presidency. The event dealt with the important role that Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) play in formulating energy policy. IENE was represented by its Head of Research, Mr. Dimitris Mezartasoglou, who attended this meeting and presented the Institute’s case.
The presence of IENE in the event proved to be highly relevant, as the Institute is a non-governmental and non-profit organization that has substantially enhanced Greece’s and SEE’s energy policy formulation through the undertaking of highly focused studies, the organization of numerous events and its participation in public consultations and EU funded programmes, among others. In this context, IENE had the opportunity to share its experiences with a broader group of EU official and energy experts.
Mr. Mezartasoglou referred to a series of past IENE activities in Greece and SE Europe that have already enhanced the formulation of energy policies. At regional level, he stressed the convening by IENE of "SE Europe Energy Dialogue” on an annual basis (since 2007) whose main aim is to contribute towards a high-level discussion on the region’s key energy issues but also to act as a facilitator for much needed cooperation between suppliers and consumers and thus promote the role of SE Europe as an East-West and North-South energy bridge. Moreover, he referred to IENE’s M26 study on the "The Vertical Corridor: From the Aegean to the Baltic”, which analysed for the first time the Vertical Corridor concept for gas transportation in SE Europe, and it is now widely used as such from several Ministries, including those of Greece, Bulgaria and Romania.
At national level, in Greece, he highlighted the participation of IENE in the National Committee on Energy and Climate through the presence of Mr. Costis Stambolis, the Institute’s Executive Director, which is of paramount importance, as it will contribute to the formulation of Greece’s long-term energy planning. That was also the reason for the organization of an ad hoc IENE meeting on the "Security of Greece’s Energy System”, which took place in Athens on March 15, 2017 and focused on the critical and urgent problems facing the Greek energy system that nearly led to a black-out in December 2016 and January 2017.
Mr. Slavtcho Neykov, Chairman of the Energy Management Institute, with the support of the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy, organized this half-day conference, which was a part of the events under the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU. The conference was attended by senior representatives of research centers and NGOs from Moldova, Serbia and Romania, among others, while Mr. Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of the Energy Union, Mrs. Temenuzka Petkova, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Bulgaria and Mr. Janez Kopač, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, actively participated in its proceedings.
