The need for a coherent and coordinated external policy for energy in Europe is imperative, particularly in an environment of rising oil and gas prices, and strongly growing global energy demand. This is especially the case at a time when Europe’s energy import dependency is increasing rapidly. The need for a coherent external energy policy has also been recently highlighted in the Green Paper ’’A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy’’ and confirmed in the Presidency conclusions of the European Council of 23-24 March 2006.

The European Council also called for an Energy Policy for Europe and invited the Commission and the Council to prepare a set of actions with a clear timetable enabling it to adopt a prioritized Action Plan at its meeting in March 2007. The external aspects of energy security will constitute an important part of such an overall policy and will need to be included within the Action Plan.

The Commission and High Representative have therefore prepared a common paper on “An external policy to serve Europe’s energy interests”, which was welcomed as a sound basis for an external policy conducted in a spirit of solidarity by the European Council of 15-16 June 2006 (see Presidency conclusions. The European Council also encouraged the mainstreaming of energy into other Community policies and invited the Commission to reinforce the balance between internal and external aspects when preparing the Strategic Energy Review later this year.

Security of energy supply is a common challenge for all EU Member States. Formulating a common external energy policy will reinforce Europe’s position when speaking to key players in the energy field. In order to create a common voice with respect to the external dimension of EU energy policies, an open dialogue between the Member States is required.

This webpage aims to present, in a unified way, information on the external aspects of all the European Commission’s initiatives and actions concerning the energy sector. It aspires to act as a comprehensive point of reference, providing a picture of what has been accomplished so far and providing incentives for reflection on the actions ahead. It provides links to the relevant web pages that have been prepared by the various Commission and non-Commission entities, with the objective of offering the necessary input for a fruitful exchange of views in the field of EU external energy policy.

To further promote the dialogue between the EU and the major external energy players, the Commission intends to organize a Conference in Brussels to debate the subject ’’Towards an EU external energy policy to assure a high level of supply security’’. It should be noted that, for security reasons, participation in this Conference will be strictly by invitation only.

For more information: 
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/energy/index.htm