The Director General of the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry, Mr Marios Panagides, represented Cyprus at the EU Energy Council meeting, which was convened today, May 2, by the French Presidency of the Council of the EU. The only topic of discussion was the energy situation in the EU, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and in particular the recent decisions by Gazprom to completely suspend the supply of natural gas to two EU Member States.
During the Council's proceedings, full solidarity and readiness to assist the affected partners was expressed on behalf of the Member States. Views were also exchanged on securing the EU's energy supply from reliable suppliers, on gas transit and on the storage of gas reserves, particularly in view of the coming winter. The level of EU preparedness, solidarity measures and possible emergency measures in relation to the EU energy supply situation were also discussed.
In his intervention, Panagides expressed full solidarity with Poland and Bulgaria, underlining the importance of preserving European unity. He explained that despite the fact that Cyprus is the Member State with the least dependence on gas from Russia, it is nevertheless affected due to significant increases in energy prices in general. Cyprus, he said, supports the measures promoted by the EU for its energy security, including the proposed Regulation on gas storage and the EU Platform for Common Procurement.
Panagides went on to mention the importance of exploiting the energy reserves of Member States, including Cyprus' gas reserves. In this context, he highlighted Cyprus' efforts to create synergies with Greece, Israel and Egypt for the exploitation of the deposits of the Eastern Mediterranean, which can contribute to the EU's efforts to become independent from Russian gas.
Finally, the Director General of the Ministry of Energy referred to the measures of the Green Transition. As he said, Cyprus supports these measures, which, however, must take into account the different starting points and be fair to all Member States.
(MF/SX)
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