The seminar brought together the members of parliament and parliamentary staff of the Western Balkan countries and Turkey viz. delegations of Albania, Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey, as well as representatives of UNMIK/Kosovo. The interparliamentary seminar was also attended by MEPs (chair and members of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Jerzy Buzek, Tonino Picula and Marian-Jean Marinescu), representatives of the Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, as well as energy experts.
The National Assembly delegation comprised Dr Aleksandara Tomic, Chairperson of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy, Ivana Dinic, Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy, Aleksandar Senic, Chairman of the European Integration Committee, and Dr Ivan Bauer, member of the European Integration Committee.
The gathering dealt with energy and energy security in light of the new challenges to the European Union and the enlargement countries. The MEPs underlined the need to ensure energy security through constant investment into renewable energy sources, improvement of energy efficiency and increased solidarity among the member states. That is why the new European Union should include the Western Balkan countries and Turkey thus creating a Pan-European Energy Union, comprising 37 member countries, a network which would boost the security of energy supply. The representatives of Turkey stressed that they would like to take part in the construction of the Turkish Stream for Russian gas, as well as Trans-Anatolian pipeline which would channel gas from Azerbaijan. Turkey’s favourable geographical position pushes the country to centre stage, which it is ready to share with the Western Balkan countries. Dr Aleksandara Tomic said that the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia launched the initiative to set up a network of parliamentary committees of the Western Balkans and Turkey in charge of energy so that the parliamentarians could take on a more prominent role in the negotiations and decision-making process in the field. She informed the participants that in December 2014 Serbia passed the Energy Law and in January 2015 a pre-prepared plan of reorganization for PE Srbijagas, thus showing its readiness to put in extra efforts to fully adjust to the EU requirements in the field.
The participants of the seminar agreed that all the countries in the region have open issues such as price, security of supply, energy efficiency, and legal and environmental standards. That is why efforts should be channelled into strengthening the role of the parliaments in the EU accession process, especially in the field of energy which is vital for the Western Balkans and Turkey.