Visegrad Group grabs energy security by the horns

The new EU member states have shown they are not waiting for Brussels to improve regional energy security of supply. A meeting of the Visegrad + group on February 24th, 2010 in Budapest is proof that the new 2004/07 EU member states have come into their own.

The meeting itself was attended by the Visegrad group of countries, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia plus a range of other CEE and SEE countries' representatives and international stakeholders, including the US. At the end of the day, they issued a wide ranging statement concerning energy security and investment. While the content of the statement itself is important and noteworthy. What is the most noteworthy is that these countries came together themselves to address their collective energy security.

Solutions for improving energy security of supply are normally dealt with in a bilateral manner or within the framework of EU meetings. The failure of the MOL initiated NETS plan to live up to original expectations to integrate the regions gas networks (despite it often being cited as a good example) is a case in-point of the lack of joined up political thinking. However, now it appears the prime ministers and high level EU and US officials are in the game. When the first meetings were held for NETS it was the national regulators and TSOs that participated in early discussions. While, progress has occurred in bilateral infrastructure projects, it now appears that the higher political authorities have gotten into the act and are seeing the regional picture as well.

The regional picture for gas as proposed by the Hungarian Prime Minister is a "gas supply triangle," that involves "a liquefied natural gas terminal on Poland's Baltic Sea coast, a similar terminal on the Croatian island of Krk in the Adriatic, and the much talked about Nabucco gas pipeline."

The benefits of regional planning in energy infrastructure are significant for both an efficiency point of view and from an energy security perspective. But like many regional projects that have been proposed in the past, like common auction offices for electricity and a NETS joint stock company, it may be best to offer encouraging words of support to see if the political arena continues its engagement. If it does we can expect to see more robust interconnections and more liquid energy markets. These all contribute towards the EU's Common Energy Market and stability in the region's energy markets.